


Something Just Like This

by TheAutotheist



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cannon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-26 03:39:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10778793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAutotheist/pseuds/TheAutotheist
Summary: When Barry was a child, he met the love of his life. Which was why it was a shame she didn't turn out to be his soulmate.





	1. Chapter 1

Barry remembered the first time he saw Iris. He thought she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen (and he was still young enough that he wasn’t embarrassed by the thought). He was also too young to realize what it meant that there  _ wasn’t _ a spark of recognition between them when he touched her hand. It was only later, when they were older, that he realized Iris couldn’t be his soulmate. But by then he was already halfway towards being in love with her, and couldn’t be concerned with a little thing like destiny.

When he went to live with the Wests after his mother was murdered and his father was (wrongfully) sent to prison, he stamped down on the growing affection he had for Iris. Well, he tried anyway. Logically, he knew he had a soulmate out there somewhere who was older than him, as he had been born with his soulmark. He could never even delude himself into thinking Iris was one of those without a soulmate because hers was in a very obvious spot on the side of her neck. Once they got into high school, Iris had taken to wearing her hair over one shoulder to try to hide it, but most could still tell it was there. 

Barry’s mark was not in such an easy-to-see place, on his abdomen. But of course, after living together for years, Iris knew it was there. She even sat with Barry one night while Joe was working late and said, “Do you ever wonder what your soulmate will be like? How you’ll meet?” Her hand drifted to cover the side of her neck. “I wonder how much older than me he is.”

Each time Iris would speculate on their soulmates (because she never left Barry out, always fascinated by his mark as much as her own), Barry would grunt some kind of noncommittal answer so he wouldn’t have to say he didn’t give a crap about his actual soulmate when Iris was right in front of him.

Barry thought it would be easier when he went off to college. He could finally get over the insane crush he had on his foster sister, maybe enough to find his soulmate. But you know what they say about absence and the heart. Not that he didn’t try to date. He did. Some of his relationships even went well, always up until the point the girl (or guy) would decide they couldn’t be with someone who was already marked.

When he came home from college, it was to discover Iris had had a similarly bad time of it. She had broken up with her most recent boyfriend only a few weeks before because he, quote, “wanted to dump her before she had to a chance to dump him when she finally found her soulmate.”

Barry couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to dump Iris, and he told her as much. She smiled and patted his knee, and said, “That’s nice of you, Barr.”

So he decided to just take a chance. “No, really, Iris. I can’t imagine how anyone would  _ not _ want to be with you, when that’s all I want. All I have wanted for years. Iris, I’ve been in love with you since before I even knew what love was. And I don’t care that some marks on our skin don’t match. Because I love you.”

Iris looked at him for a very long moment, and then her eyes softened. She hadn’t moved her hand off his knee, so she squeezed it again. He expected her to say any number of things, to yell at him for doing this to their friendship. Instead, she said, “Tell me that again in two months.”

“What?”

“Come back and confess that to me again from the beginning in two months when I’m not still getting over this break-up and thinking more about a rebound than diving into a real relationship.”

Well, it wasn’t a no.

So two months later, Barry stopped by the West family home for dinner. (Joe did insist he try to come by more often now that he was back in Central.) It wasn’t exactly two months; he was a few days late. Story of his life. 

He waited until he and Iris were alone in the kitchen washing the dishes after dinner, and then he said quietly, glancing to where she stood beside him, “So… do you remember our conversation from two months ago?”

“I remember saying something about you telling me something from the beginning,” she said, but she titled her head up so he could see the shine in her eyes so he knew she wasn’t going to shut him down.

From this angle, Barry could see the mark on the side of Iris’s neck. Her hair had fallen off her shoulder and down her back, so she didn’t have anything covering it. Barry’s eyes drifted to it, but then he looked back up at the side of her face. “Iris,” he said softly and she turned to look up at him again. “I’m in love with you, and I have been since we were kids. And I know we’ve both got soulmates out there somewhere, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to be with you. And if you want… I’d like to see where this could go…”

He finished what he had to say and stood there with the dish towel in his hands, trying not to wring it as he watched her face and anxiously waited for her response. But Iris didn’t keep him on edge for long.

She gently set her hand against his arm and gave him her warmest smile, the one that could reach him even when he’d been the coldest and most closed off after his mother’s death. “I would… like that. Barry.”

He couldn’t help the wide smile that broke out across his face. “Yeah?”

Iris laughed. “Yeah.” She leaned up and wrapped her arms around him. “Yeah, Barry.”

 

Needless to say, the first date between two people who had known each other for practically their whole lives was awkward. They didn’t know how to be flirty when they already knew so many things about each other.

Finally, Iris put down her fork and said, “Okay, this isn’t working.”

Barry’s heart fell. Already?

“Oh, no, Barr,” she said quickly at his expression. Another point in the they-knew-each-other-too-well column. “I mean us trying to do the “first date” thing. We can’t do all the regular topics, because I already know your favorite color—red—and what you studied in school—forensics and chemistry. I know the movies you watch and how you like your coffee. So here’s what I propose: we stop trying to treat this like a regular first date between strangers, and go back to acting like we do at dinner every other time.” She reached out and set her hand on top of his on the table.

If it was possible, Barry could swear he fell a little bit more in love with Iris. “Okay. Then have you decided on a major yet?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “I’m still trying a bunch of things out. Not everyone can have the kind of single-minded drive for their education like you.”

Barry smiled. “Well, what are you taking this term, then?”

Iris picked her fork back up and tilted her head thoughtfully. “You know, the journalism class is kinda fun.”

“Really? That does seem like you.”

“Until then, I’m still at Jitters. And don’t pretend you aren’t happy about that. Because I know you like the free coffee.”

Barry shrugged, smile still on his face. “Who says no to free coffee?”

“So what about you? Dad mentioned something about an interview…”

“Oh yeah!” Barry’s face lit up. “Joe maybe got me an interview with the captain at his precinct. They actually need a new assistant CSI.”

“That’s great, Barry! When is it?”

“Thursday.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re going to do great. You’re only the smartest guy I know.” She took his hand again and ran her thumb along his skin. “You are going to call me right after, right?”

“Sure. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

The rest of the evening passed in the same kind of relative ease. It was so easy to talk to Iris about everything going on his life that he realized maybe they’d already kind of been dating without the attached relationship. He was surprised it had taken them this long.

They automatically headed back to Joe’s house after dinner without even agreeing to. So the look of surprise on Iris’s face once they reached the front steps mirrored his own a bit.

“Well,” he said.

“Well,” she agreed. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. “I would say that was a successful first date.”

“Yeah.” He stepped close to her and took her hand. “Do you… Can I…”

She leaned up on her toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “Yes, you can.”

So he smiled and took her face in his hands so he could kiss her slowly. When they broke apart again, they were both smiling.

“So what’s your opinion on a second date?” he asked while he still cupping her face in his hands.

“I would say your chances are pretty good, Mr. Allen.” Iris smiled and pressed one last kiss to the side of his mouth, and then she moved back out of his arms. “How does lunch on Friday sound?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Good.” She waved as she made her way to the door. “Night, Barry.”

“Night, Iris.”

Iris disappeared into the house and Barry couldn’t stop smiling for hours after that.

 

It was so easy being with Iris. Just as it had been so easy being friends. Not much changed in their relationship except for the random bouts of making out on his couch, or the couch in Joe’s house. And wasn’t that embarrassing the first time Joe walked in on the two of them doing that? He’d known about Barry’s crush on Iris probably for as long as Barry, if not longer. So he didn’t treat Barry the same way he’d treated all of Iris’s previous boyfriends.

But after catching them in a compromising situation again (at least they were clothed!) several months after they’d started dating, Joe pulled Barry aside while Iris rushed off to a shift at Jitters. “Barr, can I talk to you?”

“Look, Joe, I’m sorry about that.” Barry waved at the couch. “We haven’t actually done…  _ that _ on the couch.”

Joe held up his hand quickly. “Please. No. I do not want details.”

“Right.” Barry stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet nervously. “We’ll… uh… move from now on? To the… not living room.” Barry had been about to say the bedroom, but he was sure Joe really didn’t want to hear that.

Joe shook his head. “That’s not what I want to talk to you about.” He held up his finger in Barry’s face. “Though you better not do anything in a communal room.” He sighed and dropped his hands to his hips. Barry recognized the pose. It was how he looked when he’d explained that Barry’s dad was going away for a long time. It was his delivering-bad-news posture. “You and Iris have been getting… close… lately.” It wasn’t a question, not exactly.

“Yeah…” Barry wasn’t really sure where this was going if Joe wasn’t going to scold him about walking in on them again.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“What?” Barry blinked in surprise. 

“You and Iris. Being together.”

“Joe. You know I’m not going to do anything to hurt her. You know me. You know I love her. I don’t need a shovel talk.”

“This ain’t that.” He finally looked Barry in the eye. “You both are marked.”

Barry stiffened immediately. “Yeah. So?”

“You both are marked  _ for other people _ . You know this won’t—can’t—last.”

“Say’s who?” Barry asked much more sharply than he intended.

“Because once one or both of you meet your actual soulmates, you’ll want to be with them.”

Barry crossed his arms across his chest. “Not all soulmate bonds are romantic. Who’s to say Iris and I aren’t meant to be together and our soulmates are supposed to be platonic?”

“Because then you’d be bonded to each other.”

“Well, maybe the universe made a mistake!”

“Barry…” Joe reached for his shoulder and Barry took a jerky step back.

“No, Joe! I love Iris. And she… well, I know she cares about me a lot. If we meet our soulmates, we’ll deal with it.”

“Barry, I don’t want you, either of you, to get hurt because you got in too deep.”

“In too deep?” Barry stared at him. “Joe, I’ve been in love with Iris for  _ years _ . That isn’t going to change just because I meet someone with a mark to match mine.” He waved in the vague direction of his torso where his mark was hidden under his clothes. “Besides, you’re not even marked! How would you know?”

Joe didn’t flinch at Barry’s words, but he did frown. “Barry, you forget I have a lot of experience with people. I’ve seen plenty of relationships fail because the couple thought nothing would change upon meeting their soulmates.” He shook his head. “It just doesn’t work out.”

“Then you don’t know me and Iris.” Barry sidestepped him and grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch. “See you around, Joe.”

He didn’t go home, instead he went out to Iron Heights. They guards there were pretty used to him by this point. And one of the perks of his new job as assistant CSI to the CCPD was that they didn’t really question him when he showed up unexpectedly for a visitation.

“Hey, Slugger,” Henry gave Barry his regular greeting as he sat across the glass from him.

Barry smiled weakly. “Hey, Dad.”

Henry’s smile faltered slightly. “Something wrong, Barry?”

Barry leaned his head in his hand, but kept the phone pressed against his other ear. “Yeah. I need your advice, Dad. You know how I told you about me and Iris… dating?”

Henry smiled again. “Yes. I’m happy for you, Barry. I know how long you’ve liked her.” He paused as he took in Barry’s posture. “Did something happen between you two?”

“No! No…” Barry sat up straight so he could look at his father again. “No. Things are great between us. I’ve, uh, I’ve even been thinking of asking Iris to move in with me. She spends half her time in my apartment anyway. And now that I have a full-time job and benefits and stuff…”

“But?” Henry prompted.

Barry gazed off to the side for a moment. “You know I’ve got a mark.”

“Yes, of course I do. It was one of the first things the doctor pointed out to us when you were born.”

“Right. Well. Iris has a mark too… and…”

“And you’re obviously not bonded to each other,” Henry finished for him, so Barry gave him a small nod. “And you haven’t met your soulmates yet, have you?” Barry shook his head. “Are you worried you are going to leave her when you do, or that she is going to leave you?”

“No…” Barry said slowly. “Not really. I know what I feel for Iris. And I know the kind of integrity Iris has. But… someone told me it’s a bad idea, being with someone who’s marked for someone else. That our relationship is doomed…”

Henry sighed and tilted his head down slightly so he could hold Barry’s gaze when he tried to duck his head. “Listen to me, Barry. Don’t let anyone else ever dictate who you should love or who you should be with. Not even when it comes to soulmarks and soulmates. If you love Iris, and Iris loves you, then you be with Iris. Maybe you will discover your soulmate and love that person more, but you can’t let the fear of something like that stop you from the relationship you want to be in now.”

Barry gave his father an unsure smile. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

Henry looked at him for a moment. “And you? Are you worried about getting hurt?”

“I…” Barry flickered his eyes away. “Maybe. But if Iris meets her soulmate and loves that person more, I’d let her go.”

Henry smiled brightly. “That is why you will be fine, Son. Like I said, do not let anyone else define what you should do. Talk to Iris. That’s the most important thing. Only you two can decide what is best for your relationship.”

This time Barry gave his dad a genuine smile. “Yeah. Thanks, Dad…”

“Any time, Slugger. I just want you to be happy.”

Barry’s smile widened. “Iris makes me happy. She really does.”

“That’s all a father can hope for his son.”

That night, Barry invited Iris over to his apartment. He told her everything Joe had said. She looked about ready to storm over to her dad’s place in a rage. 

“How dare he say that like he has any idea! He just can’t handle me being with anyone!” She paced back and forth across his living room.

“I said something along the same lines…” Barry watched her from where he was perched on a stool at his kitchen island.

“So what we aren’t marked for each other?” She waved her hands between them frantically. “That doesn’t stop me from loving you!”

Barry straightened up immediately. “...You love me?”

Iris stopped her pacing abruptly and turned to face Barry. “Of course I love you.”

“You never said…”

Unexpectedly, Iris laughed. “Oh my god! I really haven’t!” She crossed the room quickly and moved to stand between Barry’s legs. “I love you, Barry.”

Barry smiled widely and dipped his head to capture her lips in a kiss. “Move in with me?”

Iris laughed again and twined her arms around his neck, despite the height difference. “Sure. Yes. That sounds good. I’d love to.”

“You sound like me,” Barry said with a chuckle as he moved his hands to her waist so he could kiss her again.

“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”

“Only took you twelve years.”

“Oh, hush, you.” Iris stopped any further argument with another kiss.

 

When they packed up Iris’s stuff into a rented truck a few days later, Iris kept up an icy exterior around her dad. For his part, he seemed more apologetic than angry about the situation. Finally, when he couldn’t take Iris’s cold shoulder, he stopped them at the door with the last few boxes in their hands.

“Barry. I want to say I’m sorry for what I said before.” Iris turned to look at her father with surprise, but Barry stayed quiet while he waited for Joe to finish. “Maybe it wasn’t my place. But you’re almost just as much my kid as Iris. So you have to understand the kind of position that puts me in.”

Iris opened her mouth, but Barry beat her to it. “Joe, we’re adults. We get to make our own choices, and that includes relationship choices.”

“I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

Barry and Iris glanced at each other. “Yeah, Dad, we’re sure,” Iris answered. “When you’re ready to accept that, let us know.” 

Iris walked out of the house without another look back. Barry did glance back, but only because he couldn’t ignore Joe as effectively as Iris. “See you at the precinct, Joe…”

“Barry…” Joe started to say.

Barry just shook his head and followed Iris out.

Iris wasn’t happy the rest of the day. So they unpacked her things quietly, only exchanging a few words every now and then about where something should go.

Finally, Barry stopped Iris as she was about to open one of the last couple of boxes. “Hey. Joe will come around.”

“Do you remember the silent treatment he gave me when I tried to join the police academy?”

Barry nodded.

“It didn't end until I quit.”

“That’s not gonna happen this time.”

“Really? You don’t think he’ll just keep being all disapproving until we break up?”

“Well…” Barry rubbed the back of his neck. “We just have to prove to him that he aren’t going to break up.”

“You want to play chicken with my dad?”

Barry smiled lightly. “What, don’t think we’ll win?”

Iris shook her head, but she smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Are you trying to get me to be competitive?”

“There’s no trying about it.” Barry loosely looped his arms around her waist in return. “You’re always competitive.”

That actually made Iris laugh, and Barry was pleased he got it out of her. “Okay. Then it’s on.” She leaned up on her toes to kiss him softly.

 

Joe did eventually come around, but it was only after another two months. It helped that Iris would take every opportunity to bring Barry lunch in his lab when she didn’t have to work through the lunch rush. So Joe saw her every other day, and she refused to speak to him at all.

“Okay,” he announced one day as he stood in the doorway to Barry’s lab while Barry and Iris paused in sharing a quick lunch over his desk. “Maybe I was wrong,” he said slowly.

“Oh?” Iris asked nonchalantly. She popped a fry in her mouth. “What about?”

“You guys.” he waved over at them. “And I don't want to not be on speaking terms with either of my kids. So I’m sorry. I’m still not totally happy about this, but I’m not gonna get in the way of it anymore.”

Just like that, Iris’s demeanor brightened. She jumped up and walked over to Joe to peck him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Though, can we make one request?” Barry asked. “Please stop calling us both your kids. It sounds a little incestuous.”

Joe raised an eyebrow. “You’re just realizing this now?”

“Dad…” Iris said slowly.

“Alright, alright. So does that mean you’ll come over for dinner again on Thursday?”

“We’ll be there,” Barry promised.

And just like that, they were good again.

 

Barry paced back and forth through his and Iris’s apartment. To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He was beyond nervous. Barry once again checked to make sure dinner was coming along. He wasn’t the best cook, having subsisted primarily on ramen throughout college, but even he could make a few things (thanks in no small part to the extensive collection of recipes Joe had). He was especially determined not to screw up this meal.

It had been exactly one year since Barry and Iris had started dating. Things had been so good. Even Joe had fully accepted that Iris and Barry weren’t separating any time soon. So Barry decided he was going to go for it. He was going to ask Iris to marry him.

Iris was getting off at seven, which gave Barry just enough time to rush home after work to start working on dinner. Now he was anxiously waiting for the last few things to be ready. He couldn't help glancing at the clock every few minutes to see how much time he had left. For once in his life, he was determined to get the timing right.

When Iris finally did walk in the door, she looked about ready to collapse. She didn’t even glance at the table, and instead went straight to the couch so she could drop face-first down onto it and curl up.

“I am so glad today is over,” she mumbled into a pillow. “I had three separate shouty customers, one of which made the new barista cry. Someone spilled a drink right into the box of sweeteners. And then the wifi went down!”

Barry tried really hard not to smile. While normally Iris loved her job at Jitters, it was still a food service job, which meant the occasional truly awful day. Apparently this had been one of them. “Sounds like you could use some food. I made dinner,” he said tentatively. 

However, Iris was too exhausted to notice the oddity of that statement. “Sorry, Barry. I think I’m just gonna take a quick shower and go to bed early. I’ll have some tomorrow.” She moved to push herself off the couch and head for the bathroom.

This was not at all in Barry’s plan. He jumped in front of her and held up his hands. “I really think you’ll feel better if you eat first. You don’t want to wake up starving in the middle of the night, do you?”

Iris gave him a strange look. “What is with you today?”

“I just think you should eat something…”

“I’m fine, Barry. Honest. But thank you for making dinner.” She patted his arm as she moved around him towards the bedroom.

“Um…” Barry glanced between her and the table, unsure how to make her change her mind. If she really was exhausted, he didn’t want to push it. This was supposed to be romantic, after all.

“Barry is something… wrong…?” Iris turned around as she was asking, and was finally able to see the fully set table behind him. With nicer plates and wine poured and everything. Iris gasped and took a step closer to the table. “You did all this?” She looked up at him in surprise.

“Yeah.” Barry smiled sheepishly and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked as she came to stand next to the table with her hand on the back of a chair.

“Well, we’ve been dating for a year…”

“Oh my god!” Iris smacked her forehead. “That’s right! I completely forgot! I’m so sorry, Barry!”

Barry’s whole script had gone out the window, so he figured what the hell. “So I was going to ask you to marry me.”

Iris stared at him. And stared at him. And stared at him. “...What?”

Barry pulled the ring out of his pocket and held it up between his thumb and index finger. “Iris, will you marry me?”

Iris looked at him, and then at the ring, and then back at him. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “Oh my god.”

“Is that a yes or a no…?” he asked nervously.

“Yes! Yes, it’s a yes!” Iris launched herself into Barry’s arms. “Oh my god, it’s a yes!” She grabbed his face and kissed him hard. “Oh my god, Barry!”

Barry laughed and just managed to keep from toppling over because Iris was so tiny. “Really?”

“Of course, really!” Iris bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. She looked down at the ring again and Barry shakily held it out to her. When she lifted her left hand, he slipped it onto her third finger. She held her hand up in front of her face, and her eyes were so wide. “Oh my god, we’re engaged!”

“It didn’t exactly go according to my plan, but we got there.”

Iris blushed. “Oh, I am so sorry, Barry. Now I feel like an idiot after you prepared all this.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, it’s a story to tell.”

“Speaking of…” Iris shifted closer so she could lean against Barry’s chest and look up at him through her eyelashes. “Did you do the whole asking my dad first thing?”

Barry rolled his eyes. He knew that kind of shit pissed Iris off to no end, especially with how overprotective Joe could be of his daughter. “I figured we could tell him together when we’re there for dinner tomorrow.”

“Oh I see,” Iris said teasingly. “So you can use me as a buffer when he gets all mad you didn’t ask for his blessing first.”

“Oh, no way.” Barry shook his head. “As soon as we tell him, I’m hopping on the train for Starling City. You get to handle the fallout yourself.”

Iris laughed loudly. “Oh really? You’re leaving me to deal with him? Why? What’s in Starling?”

“Don’t know yet. A strange report.” Barry grinned. “Maybe something impossible.”

Iris rolled her eyes, but she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Okay. You keep chasing the unusual. Let me know if you find something this time. Do you think you’ll be back for that S.T.A.R. Labs thing?”

“The Particle Accelerator turning on?” Barry grinned. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I came up with this idea after reading RedHead's [An All Too Jagged Snowflake](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4172832/chapters/9420939). (Which is a seriously great soulmate fic that you should all go read!) I thought, "what if Barry did get together with Iris before meeting his soulmate?" And this happened. (I may have also stolen the matching marks thing from that fic.) So don't worry, this _is_ a coldflash story. Just... not in the first chapter.
> 
> And I have got the whole thing written. I don't post something unless it's finished cause I tend to self-edit a lot while writing. I'll just need to post in in chunks.


	2. Chapter 2

Being struck by lightning was not fun. Barry decided on that fact right away. He had only a vague recollection of what happened the night the Particle Accelerator exploded. He remembered watching the news as they reported a problem. He remembered going to close the skylight before the rain could really flood his lab. And he remembered… floating? Chemicals floating out of their beakers. And then pain. So much pain. And then nothing.

He woke up to Lady Gaga, and a massive amount of confusion. Through the explanations, some spoken over each other by multiple people, and the tour, and meeting his idol, the only thing Barry could think of was Iris. Iris, who he’d gotten engaged to days before he was apparently _struck_ _by lightning_ and put in a coma for nine months.

So as soon as he could, he escaped out of S.T.A.R. Labs, only pausing to ask if he could keep the S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt they had given him since he woke up shirtless. He stopped at their apartment just long enough to change into proper clothes, and then he went straight to Jitters, where he hoped he would find Iris.

She saw him before he even had the door of the coffee shop all the way open. It was a good thing she had put down what was in her hands otherwise he was sure she would have dropped it. She rushed over to him and threw her arms around his neck. She pressed her face into the crook of he neck and he could feel how wet her cheeks were.

“Barry… Barry… You’re awake.” She pulled back so she could look up into his eyes. “Why didn’t S.T.A.R. Labs call me?”

“I just woke up. I didn’t really give them the chance. I had to see you.”

She pulled him down into a quick kiss. He felt cool metal against the side of his neck, so he pulled back so he could take her left hand and look at it. “You’re still wearing the ring…” he said softly.

“Of course I’m still wearing the engagement ring you gave me!” Iris’s indignation was loud enough to attract the attention of customers and the barista behind them. 

“Iris, I was in a coma almost as long as we were dating.”

“I don’t care. I love you, Barry.” She pulled him down to kiss him again. This time, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her back hard.

They could hear people whistle behind them, and someone (probably one of the baristas) said, “Yeah, Iris!” in a suggestive voice, which just made them laugh when they finally pulled apart.

Iris settled her hands on Barry’s shoulders and looked him over. “Should you even be on your feet, Barry?”

“Iris, I’m fine.” He held out his arms. “Look at me. I’m fine.”

Iris bit her lower lip for a second, and then said, “I found you, Barry. After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I realized I hadn’t heard from you, and Dad was running around dealing with the mess. I went up to your lab to see how long you were going to stay, and you were…” She looked away and dropped her hands from Barry’s shoulders. “I thought you were dead… There was glass everywhere, and sparks, and you were just lying there in the middle of it.” She looked back up at Barry and he could tell she was fighting back tears. “When they got you to the hospital, your heart kept stopping.”

“Hey, hey. Look at me.” Barry put his hands on Iris’s arms. “I’m still here. I’m alive. I’m awake.” He slid his hand down until he was holding hers and then he pressed it to his chest. “See? Heart’s still beating.”

Iris smiled and nodded. She tried to subtly wipe her eyes with her other hand. She smoothed her fingers over Barry’s chest and mumbled, “It’s beating really fast.”

Barry opened his mouth to respond, but then something… weird happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another barista’s tray start to topple out of her hands. And then for half a moment, it was like everything slowed to a crawl. He looked around and everyone was moving at a glacial pace.

But then time resumed its normal flow. The tray crashed to the floor. Iris turned to ask the barista if she was okay, and the regular coffee shop chatter continued around them.

Iris turned back to face Barry and frowned. “Everything okay?”

Barry mustered up his best smile and squeezed her hand, which was still against his chest. “Yeah, great.”

“Does Dad know you’re awake? He's gonna flip when he finds out.” She turned her radiant smile on him again. “Let me grab my stuff and we can go see him.” She pulled back and headed behind the counter. As she went, she called out to one of her coworkers, “I’m calling in sick the rest of the day. My fiancé just woke up from a nine month coma!”

“Yes, yes, go, Iris. We’ve got it covered.”

Iris came back out front with her coat and her bag in her hands. “Come on.” She threw on the coat and slipped her bag onto her shoulder so she could take Barry’s hand on the way to the station.

“Nine months…” Barry said slowly. “It doesn’t even seem real.”

“But you're awake now.” Iris stopped Barry with a tug on his hand to make him face her. “You’re finally awake.”

“Iris, I am so sorry.”

“Hush. Don’t be, Barry. What is important now is that you did wake up.”

Barry stepped closer and raised his other hand to the side of her neck. This time, he kissed Iris slow, with purpose. He wanted to show her just how much he cared about her.

Iris squeezed his hand, and smiled at him warmly when they pulled back. She leaned into his other hand and whispered, “I love you so much, Barry.”

Barry smiled and took a moment to lean his forehead down against hers. They didn’t say anything else until they continued walking to the precinct. “So. Nine months. Anything really interesting happen in that time?” Barry glanced down at Iris. “Meet anyone… interesting?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “Barry Allen, if you are trying to ask if I met my soulmate while you were comatose, you should just ask.”

“Okay…” Barry rubbed at the back of his neck with his other hand. “Did… you…?”

Iris didn’t look up at him, but she did squeeze his hand. “No. I didn’t meet my soulmate while you were in a coma.”

“Really?” Barry couldn't help how shocked he sounded.

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Iris smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Well, think about it. It kinda seems like the universe was conspiring to keep us apart. I proposed to you, and then days later was struck by lightning and put into a coma for nine months. It would have made sense if you met your soulmate in that time.”

Iris’s eyes softened as she realized where Barry was going with this. “But look. You woke up and still no soulmate. So we’re good.” She squeezed his hand gently. “Remember, I’m not giving up on you if you’re not giving up on me.”

Barry grinned. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.” He looked over towards the precinct across the street. “So anything else I should know about? How’s Joe doing?”

“Aside from worrying about you?” Iris shook her head. “He goes through partners faster  than cheap pens.”

Barry frowned. “Partners? What happened to Chyre?”

“Oh, right.” Iris sighed. “The night of the explosion, Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre. Mardon and his brother died trying to escape when their plane crashed.”

“Chyre is dead?” Barry paused outside the precinct doors. “I can’t believe it…”

Iris set her hand gently against Barry’s arm. “Hey, Barry, it’s okay if you don’t want to deal with the bullpen now. I can call Dad and have him meet us.”

“No, no, I’m okay.” Barry pushed open the door and lead the way inside. While there were a few new faces, not a lot had changed inside the police station. And the people he did recognize were all too eager to greet him and welcome him back, even Captain Singh. 

After Joe left with a young-looking, mousy partner (who Iris told him was new as of last week, and probably wouldn’t last another), that weird thing happened again. Everyone slowed down, but this time, he saw a perp try to grab an officer’s gun, and he moved to stop it. He was back in the same spot before he had even realized what had happened. There was something seriously wrong with him. He waved Iris off with a promise to see her later that night and a kiss. And then, as soon as he was outside, he tested out this new… speed. And then he promptly went right back to S.T.A.R. Labs to demand an explanation.

His day only got stranger from that point on. Between the test run that broke his wrist (which healed in  _ three hours _ !), finding out that not only was Clyde Mardon alive, but he could control the weather, fighting with Joe over his mother’s murder  _ again _ , running to Star City to talk to Oliver Queen, and then unwinding a tornado created by a metahuman, it all made getting struck by lightning look tame in comparison. 

Barry dropped to his knees after he stopped the tornado, with the cowl pulled back from his face. And that was how Clyde Mardon found him. He was too tired to stop him if he decided to shoot him with electricity again. But luckily, Joe got there first. He put two slugs in Mardon’s chest and stopped him cold.

There was no hiding this from Joe, not with the cowl pulled back from his face. Joe rushed over and likewise dropped to his knees in front of Barry. It looked like he was having trouble processing words as he took in Barry’s form, what he was wearing, what he’d just done.

But then he reached out and grabbed Barry’s shoulder. “Go. Change. I’ve got to call this in. Then you come right back here and tell me what is going on. You hear?”

Barry nodded and didn’t wait around to see if Joe would change his mind. By the time he got back to the crime scene, pre-dawn light was coloring the horizon. Barry found paramedics tending to Joe’s partner, and Joe himself leaning against his car.

Joe turned to look at where Mardon’s tornado had ripped through the barn, and then looked at Barry. “What you can do, it was the lightning bolt?”

Barry sighed and crossed his arms. “More or less.”

“I’m sorry, Barry,” Joe said. His voice was so choked up, so distraught. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. And I called you crazy for chasing the impossible. But you really did see something that night your mom died.”

Barry pushed off the car so he could fully turn and face Joe, who was saying words Barry never thought he would hear him say.

“And your dad is innocent.”

Barry nodded, and felt a small sense of relief flood him. If he could convince Joe his dad was innocent, then maybe clearing his name wasn’t such a far-fetched goal.

“But you have to promise me something.”

“What is it?” Barry asked, still facing Joe.

“I don’t want you telling Iris about anything you can do. Any of it. I want her safe.”

“Joe…”

“Promise me.”

Barry took a step back and shook his head. “You know I would be on your side for anything else. But I can’t keep this from Iris. We live together. We… we’re  _ engaged _ .”

“Barry, this only puts her in harm’s way. If there are others like Mardon…”

“I’m not going to lie to her, Joe,” Barry said adamantly. “And how will keeping her in the dark keep her safer than letting her know what’s going on?”

“Because she will run right to whatever danger you are in! And she doesn’t have crazy powers. It could get her hurt, or even killed. Don’t put her in that position, Barry.”

“Don’t put me in this position! I’m not going to start off our life together by lying to her about what is arguably one of the biggest things in my life!” Barry stood up as straight as he could, which did give him a few inches on Joe. “And don’t belittle your daughter by thinking ignorance will keep her safe.” Barry paused to see if Joe had anything else to say. “Now, I’m going to go find Iris, and I’m going to tell her.”

Joe sighed, but he didn’t stop Barry from leaving. Iris was surprisingly chill with finding out her fiancé had gained super speed after being stuck by a lightning bolt that put him in a nine-month coma.

“Can you show me?” she asked eagerly.

“Uh…” Barry looked around, and then pointed off in the distance to the other end of the bridge where she’d met him to hear his news. “See where the walkway ends down there.”

Iris looked where he was pointing. “Yeah.”

“Don’t stop looking at it.” Barry raced over and waved at Iris from his new vantage point. He saw her gasp and then he raced back to her side. She took a minute to catch up, as she was still looking towards the end of the bridge. She looked between that spot and where Barry stood now.

“Barry! That’s amazing! Wow, I have so many questions.”

“You and me both. That’s why I’m working with S.T.A.R. Labs to try to figure this out.”

“S.T.A.R. Labs?” Iris frowned. “Did they know this was going to happen?”

Barry paused as he thought about it. “Maybe? They’ve been keeping track of others affected by the Particle Accelerator explosion. They’re calling us metahumans.”

“So there are others?”

Barry nodded. “Like Clyde Mardon.”

“So that  _ was _ Clyde Mardon you saw? And he  _ could _ control the weather?”

Barry nodded again. “They haven’t released the name to the public yet, but I’m sure it’ll make the news by night.”

“This is the kind of thing I should be writing about! Barry, this is amazing!” She hung off his arm excitedly. “You’re going to keep me in the loop on all this S.T.A.R. Labs stuff, right?”

Barry smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Of course. Though on the whole writing about this thing, you know it could be dangerous, right?”

“Really? You’re going to go all my dad on this?”

Barry shook his head. “Just want you to be careful, okay? Who knows what other psychos out there also got powers.”

“Good thing there’s someone like the Streak out there helping people.”

“The Streak?”

“Yes!”

“We are not calling me the Streak.”

“Why not? It’s a good name!”

“It makes me sound like a pervert!”

Iris just laughed and kept trying to press her case. And the next day, he found an anonymous blog about “The Streak” stopping a man who could control the weather.

 

Barry was  _ so _ not keeping the name “The Streak.” Next chance he got, he was definitely going to tell Iris to stop calling him that on her blog. In fact, he thought he had a much better name, one that didn’t even come from Cisco. Though, he had to admit, it was funny hearing the names Cisco came up with for the metahumans he faced off against. And then came along someone who wasn’t a metahuman.

Leonard Snart was a cold bastard, with his single-minded determination to complete the heist he had started, and his disregard for the collateral damage he caused. Barry was furious this man had killed someone just to  _ test _ him. He considered Barry’s desire to save lives a weakness. He derailed a whole passenger train just to make that point.

None of this should have been surprising. He knew this man was a criminal, an all-around bad person. And yet… There was something about him. It wasn’t just that he was gorgeous (but, god, was he  _ gorgeous _ ). It wasn’t the way he spoke in his bored drawl that sounded like he was always teasing. It was something else. Something that made Barry feel drawn to this man. He couldn’t explain it. (Though he was going to blame it on Snart being an exceptionally good-looking, charming conman.)

Since Barry had decided he wouldn’t keep any secrets from Iris, he told her about this. Even she had to admit that Leonard Snart was exceptionally attractive.

“Based on your track record from high school and college, he’s just your type of guy.”

“Bastard…” Barry grumbled. He pulled his gloves off with a bit more force than usual. Caitlin had insisted Barry stay the night at S.T.A.R. Labs for observation since anyone else would be dead from the cold gun blast Barry had taken. Iris had kindly agreed to camp out with him in the makeshift med bay. 

“Well…” Iris settled onto the hospital bed next to him. “You did save the day today, even if the bad guy got away. You saved all those people. You’ll get him next time.” Iris smirked suggestively so Barry could pick up on her double-entendre.

“You know how wrong it is for my fiancée to be making jokes like that?” Barry couldn’t help but grin too.

Iris shrugged and dropped her head onto Barry’s shoulder, smirk still in place. “Can’t help it. You’ve always been fun to tease.”

Apparently Leonard Snart thought so too. Because the next time he showed up, everything he did was just to get Barry’s attention. He even kidnapped Caitlin when none of his other little stunts worked.

There was no tease in Iris’s voice when she calmly spoke up on his comm. “It’s okay, Barry. You’ve got this. I believe in you.” That, coupled with Dr. Wells’s suggestion to go slower in order to force Snart and Rory to cross the beams of their guns, was all the inspiration he needed. This time, Snart did not get away. Joe was there to personally arrest him. Which felt good for all of an hour until they realized someone had attacked the prisoner transport, and the two supervillains had escaped.

 

Perhaps the hardest thing about being a superhero was trying to plan a wedding at the same time. It was one thing trying to plan a wedding when both people had full-time jobs that often required them to be on-call at odd hours. It was another thing when one of those people also spent his nights racing around the city as a vigilante, solving crimes and stopping people with powers.

They could barely get much farther than “how many people should we invite?” or “what time of year?” before without fail Cisco would send Barry an SOS alert on his phone.

“I’m so sorry,” Barry would mutter as he would press a kiss to Iris’s cheek and prepare to race out the door.

“It’s fine. We’ll figure this out when you get back.” She waved him off. And usually, by the time he got back, something else would come up. 

For a man who could move faster than the speed of sound, he never seemed to have enough time. One of the most remarkable things was how he still managed to always be late. At one point, even Captain Singh just sighed in resignation and patted him on the shoulder. “Never change, Allen.”

Each time something else would get delayed, Barry would promise to make it up to Iris, but she would just smile sweetly and say, “It’s okay. What you’re doing is more important.”

“ _ You’re _ important,” he would respond.

That was the thought that propelled him when Leonard Snart returned to Central after Barry accidentally reset the timeline by a day, which resulted in Cisco getting kidnapped, which lead to Snart finding out his identity. That was what made him push Snart after he whisked him away to the forest.

That was why after he tried and tried to talk Snart out of keeping up his criminal ways, he finally sighed and moved closer to him. “You’ve seen what I can do. You know that I can stop you. You want to keep pushing your luck? Go for it. But from here on out, no one else dies. If you’re as good as you say you are, you don’t need to kill anyone to get what you want.”

Snart considered him for a moment, and Barry didn’t miss the way his eyes drifted over Barry’s body before he titled his head. “That’s true.”

Barry took a few more steps closer. “And if you, or anyone in your rogue’s gallery goes near any of my friends or  _ family  _ again…” Barry paused as he thought about Iris, who had already put herself on the line enough due to his Flash business. “I don’t care who you tell my identity to, I’m putting you away.”

Snart’s eyes did a once over of Barry’s body again, and he could tell he was only pretending to consider the deal Barry presented to him. But then he smirked and said, “I guess your secret’s safe, Flash.” He stopped smirking, though, so he could say, “For now.”

Barry would take that. He had to. Because it was all he had to keep Iris safe from Snart. Especially when he had a much bigger enemy to think about.

 

It was one thing to know Wells was the Reverse Flash. It was another thing to actually  _ know _ . To lay out a trap and watch it fail so spectacularly because Wells was already so many steps ahead. As soon as it did, the first place Barry went was to Iris’s side, to make sure she was safe. He had no doubt that now that everything was out in the open, Wells—no, Eobard—was going to start going after the people Barry loved.

Which is what made his decision for him.

“Iris,” he whispered one night in bed, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Hmm?” she replied sleepily as she turned her head to look over her shoulder at him

“What do you say we skip the big ceremony?”

Iris twisted more fully in his arms so she could look right into his face. “What brought this on?”

“I was thinking…” Barry tightened his arms around her. “We’ve been trying to plan this thing for eight months, and you’ve had to wait twice as long due to my coma. And I’ve… we’ve already lost so much. I don’t want to wait anymore. Not when Thawne is out there. So…” he smiled weakly, “will you marry me?”

Iris rolled over completely and slid her arms around his waist. She leaned forward to rest her forehead against his. “You know as long as you and Dad are there, I’m happy. But Barry…” She looked into his face. “What about your father?”

Barry hesitated and chewed on his bottom lip. “I wish my father could be there. That would be…” He ducked his head. “He couldn’t come to any of my graduations, or when I got into the CCPD. He couldn’t be there when I was struck by lightning, or when I was learning to use my powers. So I wish he could be at my wedding. More than almost anything. But… our trap failed. I have to prioritize stopping Reverse Flash over getting him to confess to my mother’s murder. So if we keep waiting until he’s free…”

“It might never happen,” Iris finished for him. She stroked her fingers through his messy hair so that he would look at her.

“So I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Iris looked at him for a moment, and then she leaned forward so she could press her lips gently against his. “We just need someone to officiate, and we can go to City Hall tomorrow.”

Barry smiled, but it was still a bit sad. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The next day, they went to S.T.A.R. Labs to tell everyone their change of plans, and to see how hard it would be to find someone to officiate for them. Finding someone to do it who already knew Barry’s secret would put him more at ease.

“I do believe I can help with that,” Martin Stein announced as he entered the Cortex with Ronnie at his heels. As soon as their trap failed, Caitlin had called Firestorm home.

“Ronnie.” Caitlin smiled in a way that was so rare for her and walked over to wrap her arms around her husband. 

He kissed her forehead and pressed his hand against her lower back, on her spine. It was where their matching soulmarks were imprinted into their skin. Caitlin likewise rested her hand against Ronnie’s lower back.

Barry smiled despite himself, because he was so happy he’d been able to help reunite not one, but two pairs of soulmates when they had figured out how to separate and stabilize Firestorm. But then he turned to Professor Stein and asked, “What do you mean, you can help?”

“I can officiate. My father made me become a rabbi before he would send me to MIT.”

“You would do that for us?”

Professor Stein came over to place his hand on Barry’s shoulder. “Of course, Mr. Allen. After everything you’ve done for us, it’s the least I can do.”

“Can you do that today?” Barry looked over at Iris as he asked.

Professor Stein nodded, so Iris held up her hands. “Just give me three hours.” She looked to Caitlin, who nodded and extracted herself from Ronnie’s arms.

“I’ll help you. Let’s see what we can find.” She guided Iris out of the Cortex.

As soon as they were gone, Cisco turned and gave Barry a look. “What?” he asked.

“You’re not going to get married in that, are you?

Barry looked down at the T-shirt, hoodie, and canvas jacket he was wearing over jeans. “Um… No?”

“Good man.” Professor Stein squeezed his shoulder once more. “You’re getting married today. You should look like it.”

“Come on, man,” Cisco grabbed his arm. “We’re gonna make sure you don’t look like you just speed-changed out of the Flash suit.”

“Hey. I don’t always look like that.”

“Yes, you do,” three sets of voices spoke up. Barry spared a glare at Professor Stein, Joe, and Ronnie, before Cisco got him out of the Cortex to go find better clothes.

When they returned to S.T.A.R. Labs three hours later, it was a nice enough spring day, that they decided to go outside. That was where Caitlin and Iris met them. Cisco, not a person known for his style, still helped Barry pick out his best suit. He smiled when he saw Caitlin and Iris approach. Iris wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, as they hadn’t gotten that far in the planning stage, but she was wearing a light summer dress, in shades of blue and purple, which matched the bouquet of purple irises in her hands. She shifted it to her left hand, so she could take Barry’s with her right when he held it out to her.

“This past year has been filled with trials for all of us,” Professor Stein started. “We have seen amazing feats of science these past few months. Extraordinary things. But nothing is more extraordinary than the providence of magic that brings two people together, especially outside a soulmate bond. You two chose each other, despite all this.” Iris and Barry smiled at each other. “Mr. Ramon, the rings.”

Cisco rushed forward to present the rings that they had picked in a hurry while Iris handed off her bouquet to Caitlin. Barry and Iris took the rings off Cisco’s palm and took turns sliding them onto each other’s fingers.

“Barry,” Iris said softly as she wrapped her fingers around his. “No matter what happens, no matter what challenges come up with you being the Flash, what you have to do, I will stand by your side.”

“Iris.” Barry looked down so he could stroke his thumb over the back of her hand. “I know we don’t have matching soulmarks. But I promise you, you will always come first, even if I meet my soulmate.”

“Me too,” Iris said earnestly. “Even if I meet my soulmate, you come first.”

“And I promise, no matter how far I go, whatever I do, I will always run back to you.” Barry smiled and laced his fingers through hers. “I love you, Iris West.”

Iris smiled too. “I love you, Barry Allen.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Professor Stein said, reading the pause. “You may now kiss the bride.”

“Yeah, man!” Cisco cheered just before Iris pulled Barry close and kissed him softly. Barry took Iris’s face in his hands and deepened the kiss, so Caitlin whistled behind them.

When they pulled back they were smiling. They only had a moment before Joe was wrapping both of them up in his arms. “I am so proud of the two of you,” he said.

“Thanks, Dad,” Iris said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, and then she pulled back so she could throw her arms around Barry again. Barry held onto Iris tightly. Soon, they were going to have to go back to searching for the Reverse Flash, and planning for how to stop him. But for right now, they had this moment. That would be enough.

 

“A gorilla? Of all the things…” Iris shook her head as she helped Barry set the table. “At least Dad is okay.”

“Just when you thought Central City couldn’t get any weirder, right?” Barry zipped around unpacking the take-out he’d gotten. It would be great if they had more time to cook. But that wasn’t going to happen with dangerous things like psychic gorillas running around.

“No kidding.” Iris pecked Barry on the cheek as she picked up one of the wine glasses to start pouring. “So any word on—” The wine glass tumbled out of Iris’s hand and her mouth hung open as she stopped mid-sentence.

Barry snatched the wine glass out of the air with ease and carefully set it on the table. “Iris?” he asked tentatively as he moved in front of her. He pried her fingers off the wine bottle, so she didn’t accidentally knock that over, and tried to meet her eyes. “Iris? Iris, what’s wrong?”

“Oh my god…” Iris whispered in a broken voice. Silent tears rolled down her face as she stood frozen to the spot. Her eyes were still unfocused, and it seemed like she couldn’t tell Barry was there at all.

“Iris.” Barry grabbed her shoulders gently. “Iris, talk to me. Please.” He had no idea what was going on, and he was running through all the awful things that could be causing this. They had just finished with a psychic gorilla, after all.

Her hand shakily went up to the side of her neck under her hair, and she repeated, “Oh my god…” in that same tone of voice. Finally, she turned to look at Barry, and the tears were coming thick and fast. “Barry, he’s dead… He’s dead.” That was when the tears turned into full-on sobbing. She wrapped her arms around Barry’s neck and clung to him tightly. “Oh god, Barry. He’s dead, he’s dead…”

Barry held her tightly and let her cry against his chest. He didn’t need to ask who she meant. It was obvious. And his suspicion was confirmed when he gently brushed her hair over her shoulder and saw that her soulmark had turned black. 

It was said that there were only two things unbonded soulmates could feel from each other: birth and death. Being able to tell when your soulmate was being born was a lot less common, as most were too young to recognize it for what it was, unless the age difference was drastic. But feeling a soulmate die, that was much more common.

It was worse for bonded soulmates, of course it was. But standing there right then, holding Iris while she cried in anguish, he wouldn’t have believed it. Eventually her legs gave out, and rather than hold her up like a rag doll, Barry maneuvered them to the couch so she could curl up in his lap and clutch at his now-wet shirt.

He remembered what Caitlin had told him when he’d asked, months ago. She said it had felt like she was being torn apart, like that piece of her soul connected to her soulmate was being ripped out of her through her mark. Later, they theorized that what she had really felt was Ronnie being atomized as he was hit by the explosion. But it was painful enough that she was sure he was dead, especially because her mark had darkened. It became grey, and had lightened up again once Ronnie was separated from Stein.

Looking at Iris’s mark, it was clear that was not what had happened here. Her mark was blacker than indigo ink. Her soulmate, whoever he was, had just died.

Barry didn’t shush her tears, or try to say anything that would sound soothing. He remembered how hollow that had felt when people did it to him after his mother died. But he did hold her close, and stroke her hair, and tried to assure her through his presence that he would do whatever she needed.

Eventually, the sobs stopped. Iris hadn’t tired herself out, because he felt her shift and clutch at his shirt tighter. Maybe she had just cried all the tears she had in her. “I never met him…” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “I know this isn’t fair to you. You’re my husband, and here I am crying over an unknown soulmate.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Barry kissed her forehead. “I get it. I mean, I don’t get it because I obviously haven’t felt… well… but, I mean… I understand. I said I put you first, and I mean it. Even when you are dealing with your own soulbond. I’m here for whatever you need from me.”

Iris tilted her head up to smile at him. “Thanks, Barry…” She settled her cheek back against his chest. “Can we just… stay here like this for another minute? I know you’re probably hungry, but…”

“However long you need. It’s okay. I’m here.” Barry dropped a kiss to the top of her head and held her close. “I’m here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Leonard Snart. ...Sort of.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn’t long before Wells reared his head again. And he showed back up in the last place they thought to look for him: S.T.A.R. Labs. After his little stunt where he used Peek-a-Boo to cover his escape, they discovered the device he had plugged into the Pipeline, and the fact that they had less than two days to figure out how to safely get five dangerous metahumans out of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Barry was almost surprised that after his suggestion that Joe enlist the CCPD’s help failed, the first alternative he thought of was seeking help from Leonard Snart. And the little smirk Snart gave him when he turned around and saw Barry standing behind him in the bar was so infuriating.

“Well, well, well,” Snart said. “If it isn’t the Scarlet Speedster.”

Barry clenched his hand into a fist at his side. “We need to talk.” Snart opened his mouth to start rambling and bullshitting Barry about whatever, but Barry cut him off. “I need your help with a problem.”

Snart smirked at him again, and then he did that thing where his eyes did a once over of Barry’s body as he settled against a pool table. “Must be pretty desperate to come asking for my assistance. But I’ll bite.” His tone turned much more business-focused when he asked, “What do you need?”

“Help transporting people out of the city.”

Snart didn’t even blink. “How many?”

“Five. Five very bad, very angry people.” Barry met Snart’s gaze. He was watching Barry curiously. “Who have powers.”

“Power, mm?” Snart turned away from Barry once he had the information. “So you want me to, what, freeze the problem? Protect you from them if anything goes wrong?” He had already gone back into his stupid drawl. It was like this man didn’t take anything seriously. The really unfair part was that Barry still found him ridiculously attractive, when all he was doing was sitting there twirling the 8 ball between his fingers.

Barry didn’t quite nod in answer to his question, but it was clear that was what he was searching for. Snart pushed himself off the pool table and moved to walk around it. “First rule of business: always protect yourself.” He slid the ball across the pool table and leaned towards Barry so he could shoot off one parting shot before he walked by him, “I’m not going to help usher  _ your _ enemies out of town.”

“Hey!” Barry reached out to stop Snart from leaving, desperate to make him listen. He grabbed onto his wrist, able to find purchase on the bare skin just under the sleeve of his leather jacket. As soon as his fingers touched Start’s skin, though, everything changed. Whatever argument he was going to make died on his tongue.

He knew what this was. Even when no two people described it the same way, everyone recognized touching their  _ soulmate  _ for the first time. Anyone else would have said it was like being struck by lightning. But Barry had been there, done that. He knew what it was like to have electricity running through your veins. He breathed ozone and created sparks. This wasn’t that. 

Instead, if he had to describe it to anything, it was like a flash freeze. It was like every single molecule in his body had momentarily stopped moving, for just a second, all vibration ceased. Every cell had to stop, so they they could start up again as something completely different. In just a moment, everything for him had changed.

Barry yanked his hand back from where it had momentarily been fused to Snart’s wrist. Snart moved back at the same time. His eyes were wide, but he didn’t say anything. Barry could only hope against hope that he didn’t also realize what had just happened, that he was just reacting to being touched. But then Snart’s eyes dropped to his torso. He was looking exactly at the place where Barry’s mark was under his shirt, where Snart’s matching mark had to be on his own skin.

Barry opened his mouth to say something, maybe to try to pick up the line of his previous argument, but then Snart’s eyes moved sideways to Barry’s left hand, which he had used to grab Snart’s wrist. It was impossible to miss that Barry had a ring on his finger. He must have felt the cold metal. Snart’s eyes narrowed when he saw it again.

Barry swallowed thickly. “Snart…” he started, but then stopped because he had no idea what to say. Of all the people who could possibly be his soulmate, why did it have to be this man? God, what was Iris going to think?

But saying his name seemed to snap Snart out of whatever shock he was in, because he immediately schooled his expression and straightened his jacket where Barry had messed it up.

“If these people get free…” Barry tried weakly.

“If you want my help,” Snart said, cutting off whatever pathetic argument they both knew he was going to make. “I’m going to need something in return.”

It wasn’t hard to tell where Snart’s sudden change of heart came from. After all, he now knew this was his  _ soulmate _ asking for his help. Barry walked over cautiously as Snart pulled a pen from his jacket and grabbed a cocktail napkin to jot down whatever it was he wanted.

“Like what?” he asked nervously.

“This,” Len said forcefully as he slid the napkin across the table to Barry.

Barry took one look at what was written on the napkin and his heart stopped. In bold, capital letters was written simply:  **_YOU_ ** . Snart’s eyes dropped down once again to Barry’s left hand, which he had used to take the napkin. He stared at the ring on his finger pointedly.

And that… No, he did not get to ask that. He didn’t get to make a demand like that just because they were now bonded. He didn’t get to dismiss Barry’s marriage just like that.

“No,” Barry said empathically. He shoved the napkin back at Snart. “ _ This _ is impossible.” It was obvious he wasn’t just talking about Snart’s request. “I can’t do that.” The second part of that sentence, which he left unsaid, was,  _ to my wife _ .

Snart’s eyes turned cold, colder than Barry had ever seen them. He realized just how playfully Snart had always treated him in the past when he saw that expression. “Then I can’t help you.” He moved to leave again.

Barry reached out to stop him again, but pulled his hand back at the last second. He didn’t think he was ready to touch Snart again. He didn’t want to open himself more to this connection. “There has to be something else you want. That I can actually do.”

Snart looked at him very carefully, like he was picking apart Barry to see what made him tick. His eyes dropped once more to Barry’s abdomen, but he didn’t say anything about their bond. Instead, he said, “I’ll think about it,” and sauntered off.

This time, Barry didn’t stop him. He let Snart walk out of the bar, and once he was gone, he dropped his head down onto his elbows and ran his fingers through his hair. He had so many other problems right now. He did not need this. Finding his soulmate in the middle of all this. Finding out his soulmate was a criminal, a supervillain. But at least he knew what he needed to do next.

Barry raced across town to CCPN. He took a second to stomp out the rubber on the bottom of his shoes, to stop the sparks from catching fire (he really needed to bug Cisco about creating a flame retardant coating for his civilian shoes) before he turned the corner and walked in.

“Hey, Barry,” Linda Park greeted him. She looked stunning, as always, but his eyes slid past her as he looked for Iris. “Congratulations, by the way.”

That snapped Barry’s attention right back to Linda. “What?” He just barely managed to not place his hand over his abdomen, where his mark was. Was it that obvious? He didn’t think it was possible to tell when someone had bonded with their soulmate, but maybe he was wrong.

“About getting married,” Linda said slowly. “I know it’s been a few weeks, but congratulations. Though you totally deprived me of an excuse to party. And you owe Iris a honeymoon!” She planted her hands on her hips sternly, but then she smiled. “But I know how happy Iris is with you. So I’m happy to hear you finally tied the knot.”

Barry did smile despite the predicament bubbling up in the back of his mind. “Thanks, Linda.”

“Now, go on. Go drag your wife away from her desk.” She steered Barry around and gave him a light shove towards Iris’s work space.

Barry paused by Iris’s desk and tried not to fidget while he waited for her to look up from her typing. When she noticed him, her face immediately lit up. “Hey, Barr!” But then she took in his expression and rose to her feet so she could place her hand against his arm. “What’s wrong? What happened?” in a quieter voice, she asked, “Is it Wells?”

Barry shook his head. “Not—him. It’s related. Can we talk?”

“Of course.” She leaned over her computer and saved whatever she was doing before packing up her stuff. It reminded Barry of all those months ago when he had first woken up from the coma, and Iris had dropped everything for him. There was a reason he married this woman.

Iris reached for his hand and he laced his fingers through hers as they quietly walked away from CCPN. Once they were far enough away that he was sure they weren’t going to be overheard, he squeezed her hand and said, “I found out who my soulmate is today.” He kept his eyes forward, almost afraid to see her reaction.

But she stopped and tugged on his hand so he would look at her. “Found out? Not ‘met'?” Of course she would pick up on his word choice right away. She was a writer and an investigative journalist.

Barry nodded. “Found out. I’ve… actually known him for a little while now.”

“Him?” Iris’s voice wasn’t critical or condescending.

Barry fidgeted and tried to look away again. “Yeah…”

“Barry, you know I’ve known about your sexuality since high school. I don’t care what gender your soulmate is.” She paused. “Do you?”

He shook his head quickly. “No, it’s not that. He’s…” Barry sighed and decided to stop beating around the bush. “My soulmate is Leonard Snart.”

Iris stared at him, and then she looked around quickly to make sure no one was within earshot. She looked at him for a moment and then said, “I know you’re not kidding from your expression. Your soulmate is really,” she hissed, “ _ Captain Cold _ ?”

He nodded weakly.

“Oh my god, Barry.” She leaned up on her toes so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly as he closed his eyes and hugged her back.

“Hush, you. You know I’m not going to judge you based on who your soulmate is. And no matter what happens, we will deal with it.” She pulled back so she could look at his face. “Together.” She took his left hand in both of hers. “That is what this means.”

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Barr.” She laced her fingers with his once again so they could resume walking. “How did you find out? Did he touch your face? I didn’t hear anything about the Flash fighting Captain Cold today.”

“Ah… We weren’t fighting. You know how I asked Joe to go to the CCPD to try to secure us a safe route to transport the metahaumans?” Iris nodded. “Well, his DA friend implied it was wrongful imprisonment and human trafficking, and we could all go to jail if the CCPD really caught wind of it.”

Iris winced. “It seems like they’ve become more Wells’s puppets than rehabilitated, doesn’t it?”

“Just another way he’s manipulated us…” Barry said bitterly. “But I can’t let them go. You know I can’t.”

Iris sighed. “I know you’re in a hard place. But what does this have to do with Leonard Snart?”

“I… went to ask for his help with transporting the metas.”

Iris frowned, but didn’t exclaim loudly. “But he’s not a metahuman, he’s normal.”

“But he’s gone up against me and won. With his cold gun, he’s probably the only one who could help if something went wrong.”

“What about Ronnie and Professor Stein?”

Barry shook his head. “They can’t risk flying through the city. They’ll be able to help us at the airfield, but we need someone to cover transport.”

“I guess…” She glanced up at him. “What did he say, when you asked him?”

“He wants something in return, of course.” Barry tried not to roll his eyes.

“What does he want?”

“I told him no to the first thing he asked for. And I don’t know if he’ll come back with another request…”

“What was the first thing he asked for?”

“Me.” Barry couldn’t help fidgeting again. “I don’t think he was too happy to discover his soulmate is already married to someone else.”

“Of course not. But if he thought that was going to work, he doesn’t know you at all.”

“Isn’t that the point? Hey.” He stopped her again. “Until this is resolved, I want you to stay out of this.” She opened her mouth like she was about to protest, but he cut her off. “I know, I sound like your dad. But if Snart does help, I don’t want him meeting my wife yet. I don’t trust him.”

She hesitated. “You only get to do this once. I’ll stay out of this while you deal with the metahumans and Snart. But otherwise, you can’t keep me away. Got it?”

Barry nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He kissed her cheek. “Stay safe. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

 

Honestly, he should have known based on everything that it would have all gone wrong. The transport was a breeze, until they got to the airfield and Firestorm met them while they waited for ARGUS. Then something went wrong with the power dampeners, and the metas burst out of the back of the truck. Nimbus went right for Firestorm, as one of the few people who could touch him. When Barry tried to help, Mardon hit him with lightning, and that freaking hurt.

It was only the threat from Lisa and Leonard Snart that stopped them from killing Barry and all of his friends. While Lisa kept her gun on Mardon and Bivolo, Snart made his way over to Barry.

Barry rolled onto his back to glare up at his soulmate. He was still recovering from the nasty hit he had taken. But somehow this stung more. “You sabotaged the truck,” he spat out. “Why are you letting them escape?”

Snart knelt down and pulled his goggles down to his neck so Barry could see his eyes. “Because now they all owe me. And something tells me they’ll be of a lot more use to me as part of my Rogues than rotting away in the North China Sea.”

“Bastard,” Barry mumbled. He had destroyed all of Snart’s records after he had come to S.T.A.R. Labs to accept Barry’s offer. Barry had pointedly not told anyone but Iris about their recent bonding, so no one else noticed the way Snart’s eyes followed Barry wherever he went around the Cortex. “Who turns against their soulmate?” he asked quietly enough that no one else would hear.

The slightly amused smirk Snart had before disappeared. His eyes were cold again. “Clearly, this bond means just as little to you, if that ring on your finger means anything.”

Barry tried to roll to his side so he could better glare up at Snart. “Really? You let a bunch of dangerous metahumans loose in the city just to spite me for being married?”

Snart looked at him for a long moment. “I told you why I did it. I saved them. They owe me. And I stopped them from killing you.” He pointed a gloved finger down at Barry.

“Only to save yourself. Everyone knows what bonded soulmates experience if one of them dies.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t stop the fact that I did save you.” He glanced over his shoulder. “And your friends. Just keep that in mind, Barry.”

“Are you expecting me to be thankful?”

“I’m expecting you to remember just who you’re dealing with. I don’t know why we’re bonded. But it isn’t going to magically make me stop being what I am.”

“Oh yeah. What’s that? A cold asshole?”

“A criminal,” Snart said back calmly. “I’m always going to be a criminal. And you’re always going to be the hero racing around trying to save everyone.” He straightened up again. “We’re incompatible.” He strolled over to his motorcycle and waved his hand. “But good luck with all this. I’m actually interested to see how it all turns out.”

Like Barry said earlier, bastard.

 

After that, Barry didn’t really have a chance to focus on the betrayal from his recently discovered soulmate. Between Wells coming back, going back in time to save his mom, ultimately deciding not to, and returning in such a way that he created a singularity, he had much bigger things to worry about. Especially after Firestorm helped him stop the singularity, but he only found Martin Stein on his way back to the ground. 

When he reached S.T.A.R. Labs again, it was to see Caitlin crumbled on the ground, clutching her lower back as she sat between Iris and Cisco. Cisco was trying to comfort her as a friend would, but Iris comforted her as someone who had experienced this pain, if to a lesser extent. Barry couldn’t face them, so he turned and ran off to see where else who could be of some help in the city.

The problem was he never really stopped doing that. He tried to fix the destruction caused by the singularity as best he could on his own, without being seen. Which meant a lot of sneaking out in the middle of the night. But considering he wasn’t sleeping very well, it seemed like a good use of his time.

One such night, as he prepared to sneak out of bed again, Iris rolled over and gently grabbed his wrist. “Barry…” she whispered. “You don’t have to do all this alone…”

Barry set his other hand on top of hers, and then he gently pulled her fingers off his wrist. “Yes, I do,” he mumbled. He didn’t even give her a chance to respond before he flashed out of the bedroom.

That didn’t mean Iris stopped trying to get to him. Neither did the others, for that matter. And when a new meta showed up who was able to absorb radiation, they were all right there to back him up, as if nothing had changed. Even Caitlin came back to the team, though she looked a little worse for wear. And then everything seemed to get so much better when his father was released from Iron Heights.

The party was a success. Henry was happy to see everyone and wasted no time congratulating Barry and Iris again. They had visited him together both after they had gotten engaged and after they had eloped. But it was different now that he was able to wrap his arms around the both of them.

“I am so happy for you two. I know it’s been seven months, but still. Congratulations.” He set his hand on Iris’s shoulder. “I can’t think of anyone more perfect for my son.”

Barry couldn’t help looking away slightly while Iris said, “Thanks, Henry,” and leaned up to give him another hug. Henry knew Barry had to have an actual soulmate out there, but he and Iris were still the only ones who knew who it was.

Iris caught Barry’s eye as she stepped back and a thoughtful look came to her face. She probably knew exactly what he was thinking. So he shook his head and smiled. This wasn’t the place. “It’s so good to have you home, Dad.”

The party ended on a sour note when Henry announced he needed to get out of Central City for a while. Before he left, he made sure both Barry and Iris knew they could visit him as often as they liked. But he couldn’t be in the city anymore.

Barry had to let him go, but it still stung. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... here we go.
> 
> Mm, that didn't go quite according to plan, did it?


	4. Chapter 4

Barry didn’t see his soulmate again for another few weeks after that incident. And the cause of the meeting came unexpectedly in the form of Lisa Snart intentionally bumping into Cisco at Jitters. As soon as she mentioned that she thought her brother had been kidnapped and she needed the Flash’s help, Barry met Cisco’s eye, and then looked at Iris.

“I’m going to take Miss Snart here to S.T.A.R. Labs,” Cisco said pointedly. “I’ll see you guys later.” He grabbed Lisa’s elbow and steered her out of Jitters, his coffee forgotten.

Once he was sure they were out of earshot, Barry turned to Iris. “Iris…”

“I know. You have to look into this. If Snart really is in trouble…”

Barry nodded. “Then I have to help him. I can’t leave my soulmate high and dry.” He frowned. “Even if he did betray me.”

“Doesn’t mean you want him to get hurt. You’re too good of a person for that.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll stay out of this if I ask you nicely?”

Iris smirked. “I told you that you only get one of those, and you used it the last time you ran into Lisa and Leonard Snart. This time, I’m sticking with you.”

“Okay.” He knew by now there was no point arguing with Iris when she set her mind to something. So instead, he pulled her out of Jitters after Cisco and Lisa, who were long gone. “Well, you know I have to get to S.T.A.R. Labs before Cisco, so…” he trailed off as he smirked at her.

“Wait a second. You don’t mean…”

Barry swept her up in his arms, still grinning widely.

“Barry!” Iris barely got out before the breath was pushed out of her by Barry’s speed as he carried her across the city to S.T.A.R. Labs. When he set her on her feet in the Cortex, her hair was just as wind-swept as his. Thankfully, none of her clothes caught on fire, as was a tendency when he carried people.

“Barry!” she exclaimed again while she tried to catch her balance “I told you to give me warning before you do that.”

“I did give you warning. And we did need to beat Cisco so I could get the suit, since Lisa doesn’t know my identity.”

Iris stopped trying to straighten her shirt and fix her hair to give him a look. “And what’s she going to think when she sees me here, before her and Cisco, without you, but suddenly with the Flash?”

“Uh…”

“That’s what I thought. Also, we left Caitlin there.” He had actually forgotten Caitlin had stepped outside to call Professor Stein when Lisa appeared. The thought of his bastard of a soulmate being in danger had pushed it from his mind.

“Do you want me to take you back to Jitters?” he asked sheepishly.

“No!” she said quickly. “I’m going to go call Caitlin and stay away from the Cortex until she arrives. I don’t need more than one of those rides a day.” She patted his arm as she walked toward the doorway.

Based on the story Lisa told them once everyone was gathered, Barry expected Snart to be tied up and held hostage, or being forced to do something against his will. He did not expect to find him casually riffling through blueprints in a architectural firm office.

“Um… I’m supposed to be here to rescue you,” he said.

“That’s not necessary,” Snart said nonchalantly. “You can speed along now.” He waved his hand like he was dismissing Barry, but Barry sensed something else. It wasn’t unusual for bonded soulmates to be able to sense each other’s emotions if in physical contact, or at least in close proximity. As soon as Snart saw Barry, he started panicking, even though he was trying to pass it off.

“Look, Snart,” Barry started as softly as he could, “if these guys are making you—”

“No one makes me do anything,” Snart snapped, and Barry could hear some of the tension he was holding.

Barry reached up and clicked his comms off. “Snart, I can tell something isn’t right. I can… feel it.”

Snart’s eyes widened just slightly. “Can you, now?” His expression hardened again. “Like I said, your help is not needed. Get out of here.”

“I’m not going to just leave if you’re in trouble, Snart. I’m your sou—”

They both jumped and looked over as they heard a door open on the other side of the room. Before Barry could turn back to Snart, the cold gun whirred and his soulmate covered his lower half in ice. Damn, that still hurt like hell.

“What’s taking so long?” a gruff voice asked as a man came around a wall of filing cabinets. 

“I got held up,” Snart said with a smirk. Even though he seemed pleased to catch the Flash, Barry could tell the turmoil inside him only got worse. His panicking ratcheted up to a whole other level.

“Always the excuses with…” the man started to say as he came to stand beside Snart and finally caught sight of Barry covered in ice, “...you.” He smirked and put his hands on his hips. “Well, look at that. I didn’t think you had it in you, Son.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Snart replied, and it sounded entirely sarcastic. He was still tense as a bowstring. 

The other man (Snart’s father?!) glanced at Snart for a moment and then looked back at Barry. “C’mon. We’re behind schedule.” He turned to lead the way out of the room. 

“You know what they say,” Snart drawled. He lingered behind to meet Barry’s eyes, and Barry thought he saw something much more serious there, like worry. “Live fast, die young.”

Barry reached up to shakily turn his comms back on. “ _ Talk to me! _ ” Cisco’s voice yelled in his ear. “ _ Why did your vitals spike? _ ”

“Snart hit me with his cold gun,” he bit out. Luckily, Cisco had redesigned the suit to thaw ice quickly just for this eventuality. But by the time Barry was free, Snart and his  _ father _ were gone.

He raced back to S.T.A.R. Labs and they confronted Lisa about her brother and her father. With the four of them watching, Lisa caved and pulled back the shoulder of her shirt and jacket to reveal a nasty scar along her collarbone. 

After she stormed out of the Cortex, and Cisco followed, Barry met Iris’s eye and stepped to the side. He pulled his cowl down as she joined him. “I’m going to go find Snart. I have an idea where he might be, or at least where I can find information about where he’ll be.”

Iris nodded. “Be careful Barry.”

“I will. But I have a feeling there’s more going on here.” He quickly changed out of his suit and raced off to the last place he successfully found Snart, where they had discovered they were soulmates.

As luck would have it, Snart was at Saints and Sinners, sitting in a booth, eating. He looked up as Barry approached, and the expression on his face almost made Barry think he’d been expecting him.

“Back from the dead so soon, Barry?” Snart drawled.

Barry slid into the seat across from Snart. “Please. Like you wouldn’t know if I’d died.”

Snart inclined his head to concede Barry’s point. There was no use lying to your soulmate, not when they could be potentially reading your emotions. It was a trick they hadn’t had a chance to use, but would surely get stronger with their bond. It happened with all soulmates. While Barry reading Snart’s emotions earlier had been an accident due to Snart feeling them so strongly, now Barry was actively trying to sense what Snart was feeling.

“Why are you working with Lewis?” He cut right to the chase, and while Snart’s eyes only drifted down and away at the question, he felt his heart rate stutter. “Lisa told us you hate him.”

And that was an understatement if the rage Barry felt bubbling up was an indicator of anything. It was old, and had been simmering away for a long time. Barry dug deeper and he could tell the anger was only covering up pain, nearly forty years of pain and suffering. What the hell had Lewis Snart done to his children? Barry had seen the nasty scar on Lisa, and he remembered Joe telling him Lewis used to take his anger out on his kids, back when he had first ID’d Len as a suspect for the diamond heist. But none of that really connected until he felt—

“Stop it,” Snart said through gritted teeth.

“I…”

“Stop trying to get a read off my emotions. And don’t deny it, I know you are based on how  _ your _ emotions are going all over the place.” So Snart was likewise trying to read Barry. Of course, he should have expected that. No way he wouldn’t use something like that to his advantage. It was probably why Barry was able to get in so deep. They were both opening the connection.

“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand.”

“Look,” Snart said sharply. His eyes cut up to Barry. “Things are… complicated with family. As you should know with your own parents.” He tilted his head slightly. “Or with your pretty little wife, who I believe you grew up with as your foster sister, hm?” Snart waited for a moment and then paused when that didn’t get a reaction out of Barry. He had long ago come to terms with that fact. He had been in love with Iris for at least half his life, after all.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Barry said levelly. “Let me help you. We’ve got this bond for a reason.”

Snart snorted and went back to his fries. “Don’t waste your time trying to save people who don’t want to be saved.”

“Fine. You don’t want this to be about us. Then it’s not just about us. I’m betting whatever you two are up to, innocent people are going to get hurt.”

Snart watched him and then popped another fry into his mouth. “Don’t worry. I remember our deal. You leave me alone, I make sure no one dies.” He said it like it was a tedious chore he had to do. But Barry could tell it was a front. At the mention of their deal, there was a surge of something. Warmth? Satisfaction? Barry wondered what it would have been like if they’d made contact back then, when they were striking that deal out in the middle of the woods, miles from another person. Would they actually have been able to talk about it, or would Snart have brushed him off just as effectively as he actually had?

That made Barry plow forward. “You live by a code. It sounds to me like Lewis doesn’t. Like he won’t care if innocent people die.” He stared Snart down, and for his part, Snart didn’t break eye contact. “That’s why I’m not going to leave this alone.”

“Then everyone will know who the Flash is under that mask.” Snart pointed at his face.

“Bullshit. You may have betrayed me at Ferris Air, but I doubt you would open your soulmate up to that kind of danger. Trust me, Snart, it will hurt if I die. Like you wouldn’t imagine. I’ve seen it. Multiple times now. You may not care if Barry Allen or the Flash dies, but I bet you’re self-centered enough not to want to experience that yourself.”

“I’m assuming these people you’re referring to lived through their experiences. One thing you’ll find about me, Barry, is I have an extremely high tolerance to pain. I’ve lived through a lot worse.” He stared Barry down, and the emotions rolling off him were part determination, part frustration, part worry. An odd mix, based on what he was saying, to be sure.

“Fine. Reveal my identity. I don’t care. I will take you down anyway. Both of you. You’re tuned in? Know that I’m being serious.”

Snart smirked and nodded, like he was amused by the answer. “We’ll see about that.” He tossed his napkin onto his plate and pushed himself out of the booth. Barry saw him distinctly make eye contact with a server as he said, “Thanks for dinner.” And the bastard was projecting wry amusement as the woman came to hand Barry the bill. Well, that could have gone better, but it also could have gone a lot worse. Now Barry was convinced there was something else going on. He just had to figure out what that was.

It turned out what it was, was a bomb in Lisa’s neck.

If there was one thing that would make Snart stop and listen, it was the fact that Barry knew his sister was in danger. That’s why he went to see him again. After a tense moment, where he thought Snart wasn’t going to say anything to help him out as he lied through his teeth to Lewis, Snart’s panic-worry-anger gave way just a bit to impressed amusement. And then Barry was in.

But Barry did distinctly feel how Snart’s worry increased significantly when Lewis got up in his face. Which made Barry think… could Snart—Leonard— _ possibly _ actually care about Barry’s well-being? (He might as well call him Leonard, since he was Barry’s soulmate. Besides, he shared the name Snart with his father.) He did seem concerned for Barry, afraid Barry would come to harm by Lewis. But then again, Barry was just reading his emotions. So he could have been totally misinterpreting the whole thing.

However, in the split second when Lewis turned around and shot “Sam” the tech guy after he got them into the safe, Barry could feel Leonard’s emotions go into a tailspin of agony-pain-worry which quickly shifted into relief-relief-relief when he must’ve realized Barry wasn’t dead because he didn’t feel it. “Sorry, Barry,” he whispered as he followed his father into the safe.

Barry could barely contain the anger he felt as he pushed himself to his feet once they were gone. The whole night, he watched as Lewis verbally tore his son down with every jab and insult. Leonard certainly tried to give as good as he got, but Barry could feel all the pain there. He was more determined than ever to put Lewis away where he belonged, behind bars. His soulmate may be a criminal, but he was nothing like this man who raised him.

When he burst back into the safe in his Flash suit, he tried to project assurance, hope, and calm so that Leonard would know he was working on a solution, that he would make sure to get him and his sister out of this alive.

But Leonard either didn’t feel it or was too overcome with panic. He pointed his cold gun at Barry as soon as he raced in, almost on instinct. But Barry didn’t need to be able to read Leonard’s emotions to see the hesitation on his face.

“Tell me,” Barry said to Lewis, temporarily ignoring his soulmate, “what kind of man puts a bomb in his own daughter’s head?”

The panic-anguish in Leonard increased at the mention of that, and he glanced over at his father as he lifted what had to be the detonator to the bomb. “A very rich man,” Lewis said without any remorse.

He flipped up the top of the detonator and held his thumb over the button. “Shoot him, Son,” he said with complete confidence. With that kind of warning, Barry could probably dodge. With his speed, he had more room to maneuver in here than a normal person did. But it still wasn’t a lot. Perhaps Lewis didn’t know that. Perhaps he didn’t care. It was all about controlling his son, anyway.

When Leonard didn’t move, either to lower the gun, or to shoot, Lewis snarled and said, “Kill him or you’ll never see your sister alive.”

Leonard’s emotions were such a mess that Barry could no longer get a read on them. The overall message, though, wasn’t good. It was all anger-hate-despair-guilt-resolution, with a touch of self-loathing. So Barry made eye contact with him and tried to project as strongly as he could assurance-assurance-assurance. He was just waiting on the go-ahead from Cisco that everything was okay. He had to hope Leonard could pick up on that just from his emotions.

And a moment later, his comms crackled to life. “ _ I got the bomb out!” _ Cisco’s excited voice said in his ear.

Barry didn’t even have to force his emotions to change to relief-relief-relief. “Lisa’s safe,” he told Leonard, who visibly sighed.

The tension seemed to temporarily just melt out of his shoulders as he let the cold gun drop a fraction. But when Lewis turned to face his son in shock, Leonard’s posture was ramrod straight once again, and he wasted no time to shoot his father right through the heart. Barry could only stare. Later, he would wonder if he really hadn’t had any time to react, or if he’d somehow subconsciously seen what Leonard was about to do, and let him do it anyway. Vindication rolled off Leonard as he stared his father down, pure hate burning in his eyes.

“You’re working with the Flash?” Lewis gasped. “I thought you hated him.”

“Not as much as I…  _ hate _ you.” Leonard bit out the word as if he had never let himself say it out loud before. Based on the overwhelming amount of hate and pain and anger coming off his soulmate, Barry would bet that was probably true. He watched his own father collapse to the  ground.

Barry carefully approached as Leonard knelt down by his now-dead father. Of all the emotions Barry could tell he was feeling, there certainly was no guilt or regret over his actions, just dissatisfaction. Over what, Barry couldn’t quite be sure.

But he didn’t resist when Barry gently pulled the cold gun out of his hands. “Lisa was safe. Why did you do that?” he asked calmly. He kept the judgement out of his voice, and out of his emotions.

This time, the pain overtook the anger. And Leonard didn’t try to hide the anguish as he tilted his head up to look at Barry. “He broke my sister’s heart. Only fair I break his.”

Barry sighed. He held the cold gun in one hand, and with the other, he clicked off his comms. “You know I need to take you in, right? You just killed someone.” Barry let his gaze drift over Lewis. “Even if he was far from innocent.”

“I figured as much,” Leonard said wearily as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Let me take you out to the cops, show that you’re not resisting.”

“Turning your own soulmate in. That’s pretty cold, Barry.” He tried for a smirk, but it was a lot weaker than his earlier ones.

“Don’t. Okay?” He shifted the cold gun to his other hand and grabbed Leonard’s arm. Even through his gloves and the jumpsuit, the connection between them sang. “See? You can’t hide anything from me.”

Leonard just grunted in either acknowledgement or acquiescence. He didn’t resist as Barry lead him out to guards and cops waiting for him. But just before they were within hearing distance, and Barry would have to hand him over, Leonard looked over his shoulder and said softly, “Tell Lisa… tell her I’m sorry. For everything.”

Barry wasn’t entirely sure the painful clench of his heart was wholly his own at those words.

 

When he got home that night, finally able to put enough distance between them that his emotions were his own again, it was to see Iris sitting on the couch, looking over an old photo album with her face in her hands.

“Iris?” Barry asked uncertainly.

Iris jumped as if she hadn’t heard him come in, but then she rose to her feet and quickly covered the distance between them. “Barr, are you okay? Cisco and Caitlin told me you infiltrated Snart’s crew, and Lisa Snart had a bomb in her neck.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said, taking a hold of her hands, since they were shaking slightly. “Really, I’m okay. I wasn’t even injured. Lewis Snart is dead.” He glanced away briefly. “Leonard… Snart killed him. So I had to take him in.”

“Oh, Barry…” Iris squeezed his fingers. 

“The hard part is that I’m not entirely sure I did the right thing, or that he did the wrong thing. Iris, the amount of pain that man put his son—his children—through… I could  _ feel _ it. Is this what a soulmate bond is really like?” he asked wryly, not expecting an answer.

Iris reached up and cupped the side of his face so he would look down at her again. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling you and Snart would have a very unique bond, regardless, just based on your personalities and your… professions.”

Barry tried a soft smile and raised their linked hands so he could kiss her knuckles. Beyond her, he could see the photo album spread open on the coffee table. From here, he could tell the pictures of Iris were from before even Barry knew her, when she was a toddler. There was a woman with short, curly hair in many of the pictures. That had to be Iris’s mom.

“What were you looking at?”

Iris glanced over her shoulder, and when she looked back at Barry, her eyes were sad. “You’ve been through so much today, I don’t want to burden you with my problems…”

Barry smiled weakly. “You sound like me. Besides, we’re supposed to share our burdens, aren’t we?”

Iris matched his smile, but then it slipped off her face. “Barry, I found out… my mom’s alive.”

“What? But I thought…”

“Me too. It turns out, she was a drug addict, and she ran away. When my dad couldn’t find her, he lied and said she was dead so that I wouldn’t grow up thinking my mother was a junkie…”

“That’s… Iris…” Barry recaptured her second hand and squeezed her fingers.

“She’s in Central and she wants to meet me. And I don’t know what to do… She hasn’t reached out for twenty years. How can I face the woman who basically abandoned my father and me for two decades?”

Barry slowly pulled Iris closer until he could wrap his arms around her and tuck her head under his chin. “I know my experiences and perspective are different than yours, but if I suddenly found out my mom was alive, even if she wasn’t like I remembered or I’d been told, I would still want to see her. I would give anything to be able to spend more time with either of my parents.” His mind drifted back to Leonard as he said that. Barry would have done anything to save his parents, and Leonard had killed his own father.

“I’m sorry, Barr. I know, both my parents are alive, and you’ve lived half your life without either of yours…”

Barry shook his head. “It’s not a competition. I’m not saying you have to forgive her, but maybe… at least meet her? See what she has to say.”

“See what a person who abandons their family has to say?” Iris asked skeptically. She tilted her head back so she could give Barry her best piercing gaze.

“It could be much worse. Trust me.”

Iris looked at him for a moment and then she sighed. “Okay. I’ll meet with her. But that’s it.” She leaned her cheek against Barry’s chest and stood there for a bit with her arms loosely looped around his waist. “What about Snart?”

“What about him?” Barry asked quietly.

“You should try talking to him again. At least you’ll be able to easily find him this time. And he can’t exactly run away.”

“Prisoners at Iron Heights have the right to refuse visitors.”

“Do you think he’ll refuse to see you?”

Barry shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking. I… I was pretty deep into his emotions today. It was hard having to pull back again.”

“You could feel his emotions without physical contact?” Iris asked curiously as she looked up at him again.

“Only when I’m nearby. And I think it started because he was… uh… kind of a mess. I could hardly feel anything at Ferris Air, but that was probably because he was in control of the situation.”

“All the more reason why you should talk to him. There has to be a reason the two of you are bonded, as unconventional as it seems. You’re both going to need to come to terms with it.”

Barry sighed. “Yeah… He’s being transferred to Iron Heights tonight. I’ll go visit him in the morning.”

“Good. And I will meet with my mother. For now…” Iris pulled back enough that she could take his hand. “Come to bed.” She walked towards their bedroom, a small smile on her lips, and Barry willingly let her tug him along.

 

Barry was able to use his clearance as a CSI to get in to see Leonard. Joe’s presence helped, though he thought Barry was going to talk to Leonard about his father and what had happened. While those were topics Barry wanted to go over, that wasn’t his main reason for seeing Leonard. Mostly, he wanted to talk about the emotion sharing and their bond. Luckily, Leonard did not refuse to talk to him.

“Hello, Barry,” Leonard said once he sat down and picked up the phone. Rather than let his cuffed hand dangle, he carefully wrapped the fingers of that hand around the wrist holding the phone. It was an odd, practiced move. Barry wondered how many times he’d done it before. Whenever Barry had met with his father, he hadn’t been handcuffed since he had a history of good behavior.

“Hi,” Barry said softly.

“Checking up on me already? Are you making sure I haven’t tried to escape?” Leonard’s drawl was thick in his voice.

“I’m not here with the CCPD, I’m here as… you know…” Barry tried really hard not to glance over his shoulder at Joe. He had asked Cisco to tap in and make sure none of the guards could listen to their conversation. The excuse he gave Cisco was in case he wanted to talk about Flash stuff. He spoke quietly so Joe couldn’t overhear him, but he had to be careful of his body language too.

“Afraid someone is listening in?” Leonard asked.

“No, I made sure they’re not, just…”

“You haven’t told the good detective yet?”

Barry hesitated and then shook his head.

That brought a small smirk to Leonard’s face. “So am I your dirty little secret?”

Barry tried really hard not to roll his eyes. He caught a very faint trace of amusement, but otherwise, Leonard’s emotions were locked down. Barry had started trying to feel out for them as soon as he saw the guards escort Leonard in, but so far he’d gotten nothing. The other night really had been an exception.

“Still trying to read me, Barry?”

“Just trying to figure out where we stand.”

“Since you had your soulmate arrested?”

Barry frowned. “Since I watched my soulmate kill someone right in front of me.”

This time, Leonard sighed. “This is about our deal?”

“It is, and it isn’t. I can’t let you walk for murder just because we’re… bonded.”

“Because you’re a good little cop.” Barry didn’t need to be able to read Leonard’s emotions to hear the resentment there.

“‘m not a cop,” Barry mumbled. He met Leonard’s eye and hesitated before he continued.

“What?” Leonard asked flatly.

“What?”

“Whatever it is you want to ask, ask it. I can feel your hesitation.”

Barry took a breath and plowed on, “Joe said your dad used to be a cop, a dirty cop. And Lisa showed us the scar on her shoulder.” Leonard tensed up, almost imperceptibly. “I.. Murder is still wrong. But after the little bit I saw, and knowing how much worse it must’ve been…” This time Barry looked away. “I can see why you did what you did.”

“If this is pity…”

“It’s not pity!” Barry hissed, still trying to keep his voice down. His eyes snapped back up to Leonard’s face. “Does this feel like pity to you, Leonard?”

“Len.”

“What?”

“Call me Len. If you’re going to use my first name instead of Snart, call me Len. Unless you want me to call you Bartholomew.” A small smirk accompanied the statement.

Barry actually had to try really hard not to laugh. “Okay. Len,” he tested out the name and found he liked the way it sounded. It was definitely easier than his full name. 

Len watched him and then shook his head. “Of course you like something as simple as learning a nickname.”

“How come you can keep reading me, but I can barely feel anything from you?” Barry definitely did not pout.

“I have better control over my emotions, clearly.” Len paused, and then said, “Besides, I’ve been feeling things from you for years.”

“What?”

Leonard leaned back slightly in his chair, but he still kept the phone close to his ear. “You know how unbonded soulmates are only supposed to feel something from each other at most two times in their lives?”

“Of course,” Barry said quickly. “Birth, if they’re the older one, and death, if they outlive the other.” He couldn’t help thinking back to how distressed Iris had been when she’d felt her soulmate die.

“Before we bonded, I actually felt something from you… three times.”

Barry stared at him. He knew he was gripping the phone tight enough that his knuckles were probably white, and if he squeezed any tighter he was liable to break it. He didn’t have super strength, but he was stronger than average due to the Speedforce. “How is that possible?”

Len shook his head to show he didn’t know. “When I was seventeen, I thought I was past the point of having a soulmate. Lisa didn’t have one. Mick didn’t have one.”

Barry’s lip quirked, but he didn’t say anything. It didn’t matter; Len picked up on it anyway.

“Yes, I have known Mick for over twenty years.”

“Twenty-five, actually.”

That did make Len smirk. “Actually, we’re coming up on thirty.”

Barry stared for a moment and tried not to say what he was thinking, but…

“Yes, Scarlet, I have been friends with someone longer than you’ve been alive.” Len didn't quite smile, but it was a close thing. “He was there the day my mark appeared. One moment I was fine, the next moment it was like someone had pressed a brand to my side.”

“So he knows? That you’re marked?”

Len nodded. “But not who to. The only thing he said that day was, ‘That’s going to be one hell of an age gap.’” Len shook his head at the memory. “The next time I felt something from you was eleven years later.”

This time Barry was the one who tensed up in his seat.

Len watched him. “When I first felt it, I thought you had died. But my mark didn’t turn black. And after, I could… tell you were still alive.”

Barry had heard rumors about unbonded soulmates being able to feel their other halves during extreme trauma. But there were no definitive cases. “Did you…?”

“I didn’t look up what happened then. But after I… convinced Cisco to tell me your identity, I did some digging. There were certainly a lot of sealed case files, since you were a minor at the time. But I found your father is Doc Allen, and I could put the pieces together from there.”

Barry looked at him curiously. “You know my father?”

“In passing. Anyone who spent any length of time in Iron Heights over the last fifteen years knew about Doc Allen. And any con could see that he hadn’t killed his wife.”

Barry let out a long slow breath. “Yeah…”

Len watched him for a moment. “I heard his name was finally cleared. Shouldn’t you be ecstatic about all that?”

Barry sighed. “No, I am. I tried so hard to exonerate him for the last fifteen years, but…” He shifted in his seat, unsure how much he wanted to reveal.

“You thought things were going to go back to the way they were before your mother was murdered?” Len asked calmly.

Barry nodded. “Or, at least, we’d be a family again. Iris was even the one who suggested he could move into the spare bedroom in our apartment until he found his own place. But instead…” He looked away. He knew he couldn’t keep his emotions in check, so at least he didn’t want Len to be able to see him break down. “It was like he couldn’t get away fast enough.”

“Barry.” He couldn’t help but look back at Len’s face at his soft tone of voice. “He spent his last fifteen years in a place with very little change or choice. Suddenly he’s back out in a world where everything is different, where he can decide what to do with his time, surrounded by people. In here, you look out for yourself and trust no one. That is how you survive. He isn’t running away from you. He is readjusting to the outside world. Give him time.”

“That… actually make a lot of sense,” Barry said slowly.

“Of course it does, Scarlet. I do have more experience than you with this.”

“But he said… he thought he was only going to get in my way. Nothing could be further from the truth!”

Len shook his head. “Like I said, he needs time to adjust to being on the outside again. I’m sure, once he does, he’ll come back. You have this way of attracting people to you.”

“Oh yeah?” Barry tried to keep the small smile from flitting across his face. “You included?”

Len rolled his eyes with a scoff. “I have no choice. We are bonded, after all.”

“Then what was all that crap you pulled when you kidnapped Caitlin because I wasn’t  _ paying attention to you _ ?” Barry kept his tone light, to show he was partially joking. In the end, Caitlin had been fine and uninjured.

Len looked at him, and then his eyes flickered away briefly. Barry was about to say something else, but he felt the tendril of… regret? Regret-attraction-desperation.

“What was that?”

Len scowled harder. “Get out of my emotions.”

“Can’t help it.”

“Yes you can, and you know it.”

“You projected that one. It’s not my fault our… our bond is strong.” They stared at each other, and then Barry leaned back. “Okay, you don’t have to tell me what that was about just there. Tell me about the third time. You said you felt something from me three times before we bonded: my birth, my mom’s murder, and…”

Len didn’t react to Barry’s leading statement for a moment, and then he smirked. “You should know what the third time was. It’s obvious. Almost two years ago a Particle Accelerator exploded, which created a lightning bolt that struck you, sending you into a nine-month coma while simultaneously turning you into a metahuman.”

“You felt that?” Barry asked softly.

“I felt something. Unlike the previous time, it was clear what had caused it. I’d been in a warehouse on the edge of the city dealing with… an associate.”

“You mean you were threatening and/or killing one of your criminal partners.”

“Mick’s the only one who’s ever been my partner. These two were just a part of my crew. And they screwed up. So they had to be dealt with. But then the Particle Accelerator exploded, and we got the hell out of dodge. As far as I know, one of them is missing or dead, and the other is now a metahuman sitting in your fancy new wing here.”

“Which one?” Barry asked curiously.

“Rosa Dillon.”

“Oh yeah. The cops caught her, so I didn’t even have to do anything.” Barry leaned forward onto his elbows. “Cisco didn’t even get a chance to name her.”

“Just be glad she was the one who got metahuman abilities and not her boyfriend. He would have given himself some completely idiotic alias.”

“Yeah, the crazy ones always name themselves.”

“That so,  _ Flash _ ?” Len smirked.

“To be fair, I still didn’t come up with that. And come on, it’s so much better than the first thing Iris called me.”

“You mean the Streak?” It felt like Len didn’t try to cover up his amusement at the name.

Barry shook his head. “Yes, that.” He readjusted the phone to his other ear. “So what happened?”

“We watched the warehouse get hit by the blast and tore out of the city. It was a good thing I wasn’t driving because I might have driven us off the road into a ditch. It was also lucky the others were distracted by the explosion.” Len dropped his eyes. “You were struck by lightning, and it felt like the most intense static shock of my life, only covering my whole body. And I knew it had to only be a fraction of what you were experiencing, wherever you were. As soon as I was alone, I made sure my mark still wasn’t black. But I knew something was wrong.”

Barry tried not to fidget in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. “You cared?”

“Of course. I didn’t want my soulmate to  _ die _ before we even had the chance to meet.” Len’s eyes flickered back up to Barry’s face. “I tried to find you, but it was impossible to tell which of the S.T.A.R. Labs victims you were; there were so many.”

“I wonder if that happened to other unbonded soulmates…” Barry mused.

“Who knows. Maybe we’re just that special, Scarlet.” Len smirked again. “Honestly, though, I should have figured it out after I got your name. I did do a background check on you and found out about the lightning and your father. Instead, you took me by surprise.”

“And you betrayed me.” Barry didn’t mean for it to sound quite so bitter. But sue him, he was still angry about that.

“What you were doing to those people was a form of torture. Solitary confinement, imprisonment without a trial. Aren’t you supposed to represent the law? Those were pretty vile things for a  _ hero _ to do.”

Barry looked away. The anger drained out of him, and he just felt shame. Len was right. He knew the way they’d treated the meta criminals was wrong, but he hadn’t known what else to do. “That’s why we worked to outfit Iron Heights with a metahuman wing…” he mumbled. “We’re not doing anything like that again. I promise. Everyone gets brought in legally from now on.”

“That sounds more like something a hero would do.”

Barry raised his eyes to look at Len again. “Why didn’t you tell me that back then?”

Len was the one to glance away. “You also needed to learn not to trust villains.”

“But we’re soulmates,” Barry said like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Besides, you’re not… as bad as you seem to think you are. If anything, all this has just proved to me that there is good in you. Since we’re bonded, you’re not getting rid of me easily. So I’ll show you that you can be more than a criminal.”

“You have too much faith in me, Barry. I’m never going to be a hero like you.”

“Maybe not. But you certainly aren’t just a villain anymore.” Barry smiled. This time it wasn’t a smirk, or soft, or subdued. It was a full-watt smile. “It’s only a matter of time. Trust me, you’re going to have a lot of that in here.”

Len stared at him, and then he smirked. But Barry could feel traces of fondness creeping through their bond. “Not as much as you think.” He looked past Barry’s shoulder to where Joe was waiting, and then he said, “Be seeing you.” He didn’t let Barry say anything else before he hung up the phone. The guards took that as their cue to drag him back to his cell. He kept his eyes on Barry and smirked the whole way.

Barry tried not to sigh as he hung up his phone and joined Joe at the exit.

“What was all that about?” Joe asked. “You two were talking for a while.”

Barry definitely was not going to tell his father-in-law that they were soulmates, and that had been the subject of most the conversation. “I think he has a chance to be better. He just needs someone to believe in him and help him.”

Joe shook his head. “You are talking about the man that betrayed you the last time you “believed” in him.”

Barry was really reconsidering ever being able to tell Joe about their bond. “That was then.”

“After everything you’ve been through, I don’t get how you can still see the best in people. But I guess you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” Joe clapped Barry on the shoulder. “Come on, Barr, let’s get out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a confession to make. I love writing dialogue. So this last scene was one of my favorite to write in this fic.


	5. Chapter 5

As it turned out, Barry’s talk with Len went a lot better than any of Iris’s talks with her mother. Unfortunately, he went straight from dealing with the Snart family, to trying to find a way to help Professor Stein. But when he asked Iris if she wanted him to be present or help, she just said, “No, that’s more important. And I need to figure out how I feel about this before I drag you into it.”

But Barry would still come home to find Iris sitting alone in the dark, having not noticed when the sun went down. Sometimes she wanted to talk about it, how the meetings went, what new revelation her dad had. Sometimes she didn’t, and he would sit next to her, and hold her hand tightly.

One day he got home, and he thought something else had happened, but this time, she noticed Barry when he came in. She turned a tentative smile towards him, even though it looked like she may have been recently crying.

“Hey, Iris…” he said slowly. “What’s going on? Did something else happen with your mom?”

Iris shook her head and walked over. She stood up on her tiptoes so she could throw her arms around his neck and hug him tightly. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her. “Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded furiously, and pulled back just enough so she could see his face, but not far enough to pull back out of his arms. “Barry, I have something to tell you.”

She looked like she was about to burst into tears, but there was a bright smile on her face, so he was entirely confused. “Okay… What is it?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“You’re…” Barry’s face broke out into a huge smile as well. “You’re pregnant? You’re sure?”

Iris nodded again. “I’m sure.”

“We’re going to have a baby?”

“Yes. Yes, we are!”

“Iris!” He lifted her off her feet and spun her around once, which just made her laugh in delight and cling to him tighter. “Oh my god, we’re going to be parents. When did you find out? How far along are you? Wow, there’s so much we’re going to have to do. What if metahuman abilities are genetic? Are we going to have to deal with a little speedster? Does anyone else know? Is there a way to even tell a doctor about the whole metahuman thing? We’ll need to find a bigger place and—”

Iris silenced him with a kiss. “Barry, you’re rambling.”

“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “But it’s true.”

“To answer some of your questions: of course you’re the first person I’ve told! I think I’m about eight weeks. As for the metahuman stuff, let’s schedule regular doctor’s appointments, and in four weeks, when it is okay to tell other people, we will tell your team and find out if it’s going to be an issue.”

“See, it sounds so reasonable when you talk about it like that.”

“Because I’m perfectly reasonable.” She pressed closer to him so she could kiss him again. But this kiss was much less chaste. 

When they finally pulled back again, Barry whispered against her lips, “A baby. I can’t believe it. We’re having a baby…”

Iris just smiled happily up at him. “Do you think you can keep this secret longer than you kept being the Flash a secret?”

“Hey! I do keep that secret!”

“Barry, even your villains have known your identity.”

“Considering one of those villains is now my soulmate, and the other knew I would be the Flash before even I did…”

Iris kissed under his chin. “Just keep this to yourself for another four weeks. Including from my father. I don’t want to get his hopes up if something happens…” She glanced away.

“Nothing’s gonna happen.” Barry ducked his head so he could meet her eye. “We’ll make sure of it.”

Iris smiled again. “Ever the optimist, Barry.”

“Of course.”

Iris slipped back out of his arms so she could take his hands. “What do you say we have our own little celebration?”

Barry grinned, and the only thing that kept him from picking up Iris and flashing them to their bedroom was that he had no idea what super speed would do to an unborn baby.

 

That was the last brief little happy moment in his life for a while. He did what Iris requested, and waited to tell his friends until twelve weeks had passed. In the intervening time, he finally met this new speedster, Zoom, who beat him to a bloody pulp and broke his back. Iris couldn’t stop sobbing into his chest when he finally woke up back at S.T.A.R. Labs. She’d been standing mere feet from Zoom when he had dangled Barry’s lifeless body in front of the staff of CCPN.

But she’d also been right at his side when his injuries healed, and he was too afraid to access his speed. It had been her idea to bring Henry back to Central City to talk to Barry. Incidentally, he was the first one to learn of their pregnancy. Because there was no way Barry was letting him go back off to his cabin in the woods without telling him that he would be a grandfather soon.

He looked between the two of them and said softly, “When are you due?”

“June 13th,” Iris said. She took his hands in hers when he reached out, a big smile on her face.

Barry set his hand on his father’s shoulder and squeezed it. “You’re going to be a grandfather.”

“Congratulations, you two. Have you told Joe yet?”

“Not yet,” Iris said. “We’ve been waiting.”

“But I wanted to make sure you knew before you left again,” Barry said.

“June 13th…” Henry said to himself. “I will be back in Central for that.”

“Permanently?” Barry asked tentatively.

Henry didn’t look upset at the question. “Perhaps.” It wasn’t a definite answer, but it did give credit to Len’s idea that his father only needed space.

But Barry couldn't exactly think of Len. They hadn’t spoken since the whole thing with Zoom. He didn’t know if Len got the news in Iron Heights, or if he’d heard about what happened. And he couldn’t throw Iris’s pregnancy at him too.

And the next thing he knew, Mardon had broken into Iron Heights to break out Len, and, of all people, James Jesse. At the scene as a CSI was also where he found out that Joe’s new partner, Patty Spivot, had a vendetta against Mardon. As if Mardon’s vendetta against Joe and the Flash wasn’t bad enough. And Barry was just beginning to become friends with Patty. 

 

When Len did reappear in his life, Barry was once again wholly unprepared for it. He and Iris had just got home after she decided to break the news to Joe that he actually had a son he’d never met. They’d only just told everyone about the pregnancy at Thanksgiving, so Iris decided she didn’t want any more family secrets.

They were both shaken up by Joe’s reaction, and so neither immediately noticed they weren’t alone as they kept up their conversation.

“He just needs some time to…” Barry was saying when he finally caught sight of a figure sitting in an armchair in their living room. He instinctively moved in front of Iris before he had even processed who had broken into their apartment.

“Ho ho ho,” Len said with his usual drawl. He had one ankle crossed over the other knee as he watched the pair calmly. In his hands was one of the Christmas mugs Iris had swiped from Joe’s house the previous year. He took an exaggerated sip, made a face, and then set the mug aside. “Cocoa just isn’t cocoa without the mini marshmallows. And you’re out. I checked.”

Barry bodily blocked Iris from view, and behind him, he could tell Iris had moved her hand over her stomach. She was only barely showing, and had been wearing larger shirts and coats to cover it up. Len’s eyes immediately zeroed in on her action, though, and Barry moved to better block her.

“Are you crazy, Len?” He dug hard for emotions coming off the other man, but all he got was a faint trace of resignation or disappointment before Len clamped down on his emotions completely. Meanwhile, Barry knew Len had to be feeling his anger. “What are you doing breaking into my  _ home _ ?”

Len shrugged and rose to his feet. He was in his full Captain Cold getup, complete with cold gun strapped to his thigh. “You think you would be happier to see your soulmate, especially after all the speechifying you did.”

“You broke out of prison, Len!”

“No, Mardon broke me out of prison.” He moved around the coffee table so he was only a few feet from Barry. At this angle, he could see Iris much better. He inclined his head to her. “Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. West-Allen. Read your article on the disappearing middle class. Strong point of view. Nice prose style.”

“This would be a better first meeting if you hadn’t broken into our apartment,” Iris said from behind Barry’s arm. She was never one to back down, after all. The only reason she was still standing behind Barry, and not standing up for herself was probably the same reason she still had her hand on her stomach.

Len’s eyes flicked down again. “I take it congratulations are in order?”

Barry debated not admitting to it, but then Len would probably just be able to read off his emotions. “Yeah.” He straightened up to his full height, which did give him an inch on his soulmate.

Len’s eyes went back to Barry’s face, and he locked onto his gaze. “When?”

“June.”

Len looked at him for a long moment, and if Barry didn’t know any better, he’d say he was catching  _ hurt _ off Len, and something like longing. “Well, then, congratulations,” he said softly, with none of his usual drawl.

That took the edge off Barry’s anger. Whatever Len was here for, if he’d wanted to hurt Iris, he could have done so while they were distracted. “Why are you here? Cops will be looking for you.”

“Mardon broke Jesse and me out to kill you.” Len met Barry’s eyes. “Jesse’s on board, of course. He’s shaking with excitement. Me, I’m gonna pass. Of course.” A small smirk graced his face as he looked at Barry.

“Is this about not wanting to kill your soulmate, or did you suddenly grow a conscience?” Iris spoke up again from around Barry’s arm. He looked over his shoulder down at her. Now that Len was presenting as less of a threat, she had stepped out from around his arm slightly more.

Len appraised her. “Perhaps I don’t want to get invested in something that has no score in it for me. Mardon wants revenge. Jesse wants chaos.”

“So it’s all about money?” Iris asked.

“Not all.” Len’s eyes cut over to Barry again.

“Are you going to tell me where they are?” Barry asked. “Help me stop them.”

Len looked at him for a long moment, and then he sighed. “They were holed up in an abandoned toy factory. But if you go over there now, all you’re going to find is a trap for the Flash. Jesse is planning to make some kind of showy announcement to lure you out. You know him. And Mardon’s going to find something to threaten you with, so he can have a chance to kill you.” If Barry wasn’t tapped into Len’s emotions, he might have dismissed the softening around his eyes, but as it was, he felt the concern slip through. “Heard you got hurt pretty bad by that new speedster in black. Felt it a few weeks ago.” Len’s unspoken question hung between them.

“I’m okay now,” Barry said quietly. This was what finally made Iris drop her staring contest and turn to look at Barry. She gently wrapped her hand around his arm and squeezed it in support. “No lasting damage.”

“Maybe not physical.”

Barry shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Right now, Jesse and Mardon are a bigger threat. Do you know what else they’re planning?”

“Sorry, kid. Got out of there when things started getting a little too hot.”

Barry look at him for a moment, waiting for something else on his face to betray his thoughts, or something to come through the bond. He could feel Iris’s fingers around his arm through his coat. “Help me stop them.”

“Help you stop your enemies?” Len asked. It was an echo of the comment he had made all those months ago when Barry had first sought out his help and they had simultaneously discovered they were soulmates.

“Yes.”

Len seemed to think it over. “If the criminal underworld of Central City thinks I’m helping the Flash…”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to spin it. You always do.”

Len smirked at that, and he let the amusement bleed through. “What is your plan?”

“We’re building a device that should stop Mardon from being able to use his powers. I just have to get close enough to him to use it.”

Len nodded. “Mardon is the heavy hitter here. So you take him out first, and you take him out fast. You can bet Jesse will have a trick up his sleeve.”

Barry gave him a look. “Really?”

Len smirked. “Couldn’t help it. At least I didn’t say Mardon is the perfect storm.”

Barry groaned. “Stop. No more puns.”

Iris looked between the two a bit uncertainly. She’d heard them banter over the comms before, but it must have been a different experience seeing it up close, especially when not two minutes ago, Barry had been threatening him.

“If you can get the drop on Mardon, I think I can keep Jesse in line.” Len smirked again. “Subtly.” 

“You mean so people don’t see you helping the Flash?” Iris asked. There was still a bit of bite to her voice.

“What exactly do you think people will think of their hero if they see him working with Captain Cold, one of the escaped convicts, no less?”

“That he managed to convince you to join forces to take down two even more dangerous criminals,” Iris said without hesitation. Barry knew that if she had to write an article about him, that was how she would spin it. Not that the Flash had fallen from grace and had to beg a criminal for help. Rather, that he’d made a criminal see the light. Which actually wasn’t far off the truth.

“And if other metahumans like Mardon, or other criminals like Jesse, see that I have turned coat, they will seek to fill the power vacuum. The next villain may not be as willing to spare lives as I am. Mardon is proof enough of that.” Len glanced at Barry. “The Reverse Flash is proof enough of that.”

“Are you trying to say that staying Barry’s enemy is going to save lives?” Iris asked incredulously. She had now moved completely out from behind Barry so she stood at his side, with her shoulders back and her head held high, staring down a man who towered over her.

“Perhaps,” Len said. He was completely unfazed by the glare Iris leveled him. “Everyone will need time to adjust to a version of Captain Cold that is on the side of the angels.”

That took the wind right out of Iris’s sails. “What?”

Barry looked at him. “You plan to make this more than a one-time thing?”

Len held up his hand in a half shrug and twirled his wrist. “Well, we’ll see how it goes.”

There was a dash of satisfaction at Barry’s wide smile, so he didn’t try to hide how pleased he was to hear that. “I told you there’s good in you.”

This just made Len roll his eyes. “Just because I want to stop my soulmate from getting killed, and keep two madmen from creating havoc in my city does not make me a hero.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you are on the way there.” He held out his hand for Len to shake, something he hadn’t done last time to solidify their deal because he couldn’t bare the thought of touching his soulmate again so soon after their bonding. “I’ll let you know when I’m going after Mardon.”

Len hesitated, but he did cautiously reach out and take Barry’s hand. With actual skin-on-skin contact, there was no way to hide the bond. Both inhaled sharply at the rush of emotions, but Barry felt he didn’t mind once again feeling everything Len was feeling. He could tell Len was sifting through his emotions as well. But then he shook Barry’s hand once and broke contact. The connection fizzled out and fell to a low hum. Len’s emotions were still there, just much harder to feel.

“Sounds like a plan,” Len said to break the tense silence. He moved around Barry and Iris for the front door. As he pulled on his gloves, he stopped to glance over his shoulder at them. “By the way. Merry Christmas, Barry.” He was gone before Barry could respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter is so short compared to the last one.
> 
> (Also, I kept forgetting I threw a random Hamilton quote into this scene, and it amuses me every time I reread it.)


	6. Chapter 6

When the alert of the drop in barometric pressure popped up on a screen at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry didn’t hesitate to grab the completed Weather Wand off its base and zip into his Flash suit. He stopped to give Iris a meaningful look before he raced across the city to a rooftop overlooking the city square. He barely got his quip off before Mardon was zipping through the air and down to the square.

He was quite pleased to see the Weather Wand worked perfectly. Maybe he wasn’t going to need Len’s help after all. He didn’t have time to find him anyway, not with Mardon choosing to attack a public place. If he did need his help, he was just going to have to hope he kept his eyes on the news.

People scattered from the square as soon as the two metahumans appeared. Barry couldn’t help throwing out, “You didn’t think I’d to let you hurt all these people, did you?”

Mardon groaned as he pushed himself to his feet from where he’d taken a nasty fall after the Weather Wand zapped him. “No, of course not.” His tone sounded like he wasn’t surprised or worried by Barry’s attack. Mardon could have been that cocky. But something else was bothering Barry. “But, I bet you’re gonna let me hurt you.”

There it was. He didn’t even notice Jesse sitting on Santa’s chair, wearing the red coat and pants with a half-eaten candy cane in his hands until he started explaining about the bombs. And then Mardon gave him the ultimatum. Let a hundred children, a hundred  _ families _ die, or let Mardon beat him to his death out in public. And there was no way Barry was going to let him hurt anyone innocent, not again. So he handed over the wand, and he stood there while he watched Mardon wind up a an unnaturally large piece of hail. 

Which hurt just as much as a punch to the gut. But that was nothing to being blasted into the air and struck by a bolt of lightning. Even with his Speedforce powers, being electrocuted still hurt.

Barry rolled onto his side and tried to fight off the tremors coursing through his body. His muscles kept tensing from the unexpected electricity, and he’d hit the ground hard, in the middle of the next street over. Police cars blocked the way into the square, but no one moved to help him. They would only get hurt.

“Flash, you alright?” Mardon mocked as he strolled into the street with Jesse trailing after him and giggling madly. “You don’t look so good.”

Barry pushed himself to his knees in an attempt to stand again. He wasn’t going to let Mardon beat him down that easily. 

“So this was your grand plan?” a voice drawled from his right.

Three sets of eyes looked over to the other sidewalk to see Captain Cold leaning casually against a light post with his cold gun whirring quietly in his right hand.

“What are you doing here, Snart?” Mardon asked. He didn’t look pleased that his fun had been interrupted. “I thought you didn’t want in on this?”

Len pushed off the light post and strolled out into the street to meet the other two villains. “Curiosity,” he drawled. “You talked a big game of killing the Flash.” Len didn’t look at him, but Barry caught the twinge that statement invoked. “So I thought you must have some big plan. Only to discover your big plan was just threatening a bunch of kids so the Flash would let himself be your punching bag.”

“See, it’s brilliant in its simplicity,” Mardon said. 

“You call taking the place of the mall Santa, planting one hundred bombs in free gifts, and spending all day handing them out to children simple?” Len raised one eyebrow over his dark goggles, which otherwise hid his eyes and expression.

“It’s simple for me!” Jesse piped up. “And I had so much fun bringing joy to all those shining faces.”

Len looked at him, and then looked back at Mardon. They didn’t notice, but Barry watched the way he subtly moved around them so he stood between them and Barry. He also tracked the cold gun, which Len had not yet powered down or holstered. All he would have to do was raise his arm and squeeze the trigger. Barry knew first-hand how quick Len could be when he wanted to.

“Kids, really, Mardon?” Len asked. “And you let him be the one to get near them?” He nodded his head at Jesse.

“That’s right. I forgot about your no kids, no cops rule. Sounds to me like you’ve been in the game too long, and this city deserves a better class of criminal.”

“Like you? Your bank robberies are so sloppy, I’m surprised it took as long as it did for your brother to die.”

Mardon rounded on Len so quickly, Barry was worried he was going to electrocute him as well. Barry could recover from that thanks to his powers. He wasn’t so sure Len could. At Barry’s spike of fear, Len sent out a wave of calm. It must have been his way of saying he had this.

“What did you say about my brother, Snart?!” Mardon snarled in his face. “Just cause you busted us out one time, doesn’t mean I won’t fry you where you stand!”

Jesse pulled out a wicked looking knife. “Maybe we should see if he really has gone soft under there.” He toyed with the point of the curved knife. “I would be happy to assist with that.”

Mardon looked over his shoulder at Jesse, and then he smirked at Len. “You know, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. But first, I’m finishing off the Flash.” He turned back towards Barry, who’d taken the opportunity to rise to his feet. Before Mardon had the chance to strike him again, though, several explosions lit up the sky.

“Was that you?” Jesse rounded on Mardon.

“No!” Mardon yelled back.

“ _ Barry, the bombs are gone! _ ” Cisco’s voice announced over his comms. So before Mardon had the chance to turn back around, he zipped across the road and knocked him to the asphalt. In the same motion, he yanked the Weather Wand out of Mardon’s hand. He turned it on once more and watched it remove all the electricity from his immediate surroundings to rob him of his powers.

Len used the opening to ice Jesse’s legs to the ground so he wouldn’t be able to attack either of them. Barry spun around and saw Len standing there with his cold gun raised. Jesse struggled futilely against the ice, but he was held fast. Only then did Len power down the cold gun and holster it. He met Barry’s eye briefly, and Barry could feel the relief and satisfaction coming off him. So he sent back his own gratitude.

They both turned when they heard new sirens and Patty’s car pulled up near where Mardon had fallen. Barry turned back around, but Len was gone, probably chased away by the sirens. Barry had no intention of letting him leave without talking to him, but first he had to deal with the two criminals, and his foster father’s partner, it appeared.

After the beating Mardon gave him, it felt utterly unfair that Patty used the boot on him. And it was all so he wouldn’t get in her way while she killed Mardon. Mardon, for his part, just lay on the ground staring down the barrel of Patty’s gun while she went through her existential crisis.

“Patty!” he screamed, forcing himself to his feet again. “You pull that trigger and your life ends too!” He vibrated his vocal cords so she wouldn’t recognize him as the geeky CSI she worked with. And he poured his soul out into getting her to stop. Which thankfully worked. 

After she had Mardon handcuffed, she rushed back to Barry’s side, mumbling, “I’m so sorry, Flash. I don’t know what I was thinking…” She unlocked the inhibitor from his leg, and immediately turned it around to use it on Mardon instead. Other cops arrived on the scene, which was his cue to leave.

“Gotta run,” he said with a nod, and then he took off in the direction he thought Len had gone. Even if his bike was nearby—which he didn’t think it was, because he wouldn’t have gotten around the police barricade—he couldn’t have gotten far. Sure enough, Len was still on foot. Barry found him only a few blocks away, sneaking around the cops.

Barry snatched him into his arms like he had done months ago when they had made their deal, and sped him a few more miles down to an alley that didn’t have any surveillance cameras, and was well passed the police barricade. 

Len stumbled slightly, disoriented by the sudden change of scenery. He looked around to get his bearings, and then his eyes landed on Barry. Realization came through their bond, and he pulled his goggles down to around his neck so he could better see his soulmate.

Barry made sure his comms were off and then pulled the cowl back from his head. “You didn’t think you would be able to sneak away that easily, did you?” There was no threat in his voice, only a bit of teasing.

“You did seem to be busy with the blonde detective, there.” Len’s voice was teasing, too, and strangely absent of his usual drawl. “You okay?” he asked seriously.

“Yeah. She didn’t hurt me, and I’ll heal from Mardon’s attack.” Barry fidgeted and tried not to wring his hands. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you.”

“Sirens are usually my cue to leave,” Len said simply.

“Still. Thank you. That could have been a lot worse if you hadn’t stepped in.”

“Of course.”

They stood looking at each other, Len with his goggles down, and his cold gun quiet in his thigh holster, and Barry with his comms off and his cowl down. Moments ago they were still Captain Cold and the Flash, even if they hadn’t been fighting each other. But now they were back to being Len and Barry.

“What now?” Len asked calmly. You wouldn’t know from his cold exterior, but Barry could feel the nervousness under the surface.

“I’m not sure,” Barry admitted.

Len raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms. “You’re not going to drag me back to prison like a good little hero?”

Barry bit his lip and flicked his eyes away. “No. You did help me stop Mardon and Jesse. And…” he took a deep breath as he gathered the courage to say what he’d been wanting to. “I’m not entirely convinced that you did deserve prison in the first place.”

The other eyebrow rose up Len’s forehead and he dropped his arms. “Scarlet…”

Barry took a step closer and looked him in the eye. “Murder isn’t okay. I want to start with that. Murder is still wrong. And it will always be wrong. But… in this case, I could see how you had no alternative. Because you never should have been in that situation. That man should never have been set free after everything he did, especially to you and your sister. But the justice system failed. The justice system that I am a part of,” he put his hand on his chest to emphasize his point, “failed  _ you _ . And I am so sorry for that. I’m sorry for all the pain and torment you had to go through, Len. And I’m sorry that it pushed you to kill your father.” He took another step closer. “So I’m not going to take you in. I’ll go back to our deal. As long as no one gets hurt or dies, I’ll stay out of your way.”

Len looked at him. “That’s it?”

Barry nodded. He let a small smile come to his face. “And, if you maybe want to do something other than steal, I’m here for that too.”

“Hoping to turn me into a hero?” Len’s tone was sarcastic, but Barry could feel that Len appreciated Barry’s words.

“Maybe,” Barry admitted. “You have so much potential in you. And…” he hesitated, unsure if he wanted to push it. “There has to be a reason we’re bonded.”

“You think we’re bonded to turn me into a good person?” He smirked and moved a step closer to Barry. “Maybe we’re bonded to turn you into a criminal,” he purred.

But that just made Barry laugh. “Come on, even you don’t believe that.”

Len smiled at Barry’s laugh. “Not really, no.”

Barry looked into Len’s blue eyes and once again remembered the unfortunate attraction he had had for the older man the first time they met. Len was incredibly stunning. But he held so much pain under the surface. 

“So,” Barry said awkwardly.

“So,” Len repeated.

“Um… I guess you’re… free to go…” He didn’t really want Len to leave, not yet. But he knew they couldn’t stay in this alley forever. He had been off comms too long, and Caitlin would want to make sure he was okay after Mardon’s attack. And it was Christmas.

“Right,” Len said. He didn’t move for another moment. He just gazed into Barry’s eyes. Finally, he looked away and took a step back towards the mouth of the alley. “I’ll see you around, Scarlet.”

“Len, wait!” Barry rushed forward and grabbed the arm of Len’s parka. 

Len turned around in confusion, probably about to ask if something was wrong, so Barry didn’t waste time hesitating. He surged forward and pressed his lips to Len’s. The very brief moment of skin contact flared with surprise-shock-want-want- _ want _ before Barry pulled back.

“Uh, sorry…” Barry mumbled. “I just…”

Whatever he was going to say died on his tongue, because the next moment, Len took his face in his hands and kissed him back. Only this kiss was far less chaste than the press of lips before. Len nipped at his bottom lip and licked at the seam of Barry’s mouth, so he opened for his exploring tongue.

If someone asked, he would totally deny that he moaned when he tasted Len’s tongue. He grabbed fistfuls of the stupid parka and pulled him closer. In return, Len pushed him back until his back hit the brick wall of the building to one side of the alley.

Damn, did Leonard Snart know what he was doing. Barry didn’t think he’d ever been kissed so thoroughly in his life. And on top of that was the overwhelming flood of emotions Barry could pick up from his soulmate. There was desire, and caring, and satisfaction, and greed, and pain, and just so much  _ want _ . It was almost suffocating.

Barry pulled back when breathing became hard. Len pulled back slightly and blinked his blue eyes open. He still held Barry’s face in his hands and Barry still had his hands fisted in Len’s parka.

Barry tried on a tentative, shy smile. He closed his eyes again and leaned against one of Len’s hands. “Wow. Are you going to get mad at me if I say I’ve kind of wanted to do that for a while?”

“I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you in all this red leather the first time.”

“It’s not red leather—”

“I know.” Len cut off his protests with another, softer kiss. He pulled back with a quiet sigh. “So what now?”

Barry chewed on his bottom lip in hesitation, which drew Len’s eyes down to the action. He looked like he maybe he was going to try to kiss Barry again before he could respond, so Barry said quickly, “I don’t want you to drop completely off the radar again.”

Len lifted one eyebrow. “I didn’t drop off the radar.”

“You did, a bit.” Barry sighed and wrapped his fingers around the backs of Len’s hands so he could pull them down and away from his face. It was a little too distracting. But he didn’t let go of his fingers, so he wouldn’t break the contact. “I mean, I want to see where this goes… I want… I want to see more of you.” Barry smirked lightly and dropped his gaze. “The longest conversation we’ve had so far was in a prison through a thick sheet of glass.”

Barry glanced up at him through his eyelashes, and it was to see Len swipe the tip of his tongue across his lips. This time, Barry was the one who had to restrain himself from leaning forward and kissing him again. “You really want me in your life?”

“Of course.” Barry shrugged one shoulder. “You’re my soulmate. And I know there’s more to you than just this.” He nodded at Len’s Captain Cold gear. “Just like there’s more to me than just the Flash.”

Len shook his head, but he was smiling. “You are incorrigible, Barry Allen. Fine.” He pulled back so he could reach inside his coat to retrieve a small notepad and a pen. He quickly jotted something down, and then tore off the paper to hand it to Barry. Once again, Barry was reminded of the parallel with their bonding, and that note that had asked for Barry as the payment for helping transport the metahumans. 

This note did not say that. Instead, it was a string of numbers. Barry looked up at Len curiously as he took the paper.

“My number,” Len explained. “My real number. I can’t promise I’ll always answer, but that is the best way to reach me.”

Barry couldn’t help the wide grin that broke out across his face. He knew what it meant that Len was trusting him with this. And he honestly wondered just how many people actually had this number. Could it possibly only be Mick and Lisa?

“Don’t read too much into it, Scarlet. It’s just a phone number.”

Barry looked up from the paper. “Do you want mine too?”

Len smirked. “If I need to get in contact with you, I can find a way. Trust me.”

“Can this way not involve breaking into my apartment again?” Barry asked. He knew it was a futile request even before Len responded.

“No promises.” The smirk on his face softened slightly. He leaned forward and slipped his hand around the back of Barry’s neck so he could pull him forward to press one soft kiss to his mouth. And then he pulled away completely and took a couple of long strides to the opening of the alley. “Call me!” he threw over his shoulder. And then he was gone.

Barry sagged back against the side of the alley and looked down at the piece of paper again. He looked over it a couple of times to commit it to memory just in case, and then he carefully stuck it inside his suit before pulling his cowl back up and clicking his comms back on.

“Hey guys, everything’s taken care of. I’m heading back now,” he announced.

“ _ Good job, Barry, _ ” Caitlin’s voice said. “ _ Joe told us Mardon and Jesse are in custody. I want to make sure his attacks didn’t do too much damage. _ ”

“Got it,” Barry said. “Be there in a flash.” He heard more than one groan before he zipped back to the labs. 

When he changed out of his Flash suit at superspeed, he was very careful to remove the small slip of paper and hide it in the pocket of his jeans. No one noticed because no one could follow his movements. He got a mostly-clean bill of health from Caitlin, and they all decided to convene at Joe’s house for Christmas.

“We’ll meet you guys there,” Barry said as he took Iris aside.

“Sure. Just don’t take too long.” Cisco waved as he and Caitlin headed out.

Barry lead Iris away from where anyone else could overhear them and turned to face her. She was giving him a curious, but not at all suspicious look. “So. I have something to tell you,” Barry said.

“Snart was there, wasn’t he? We thought we heard him over the comms, but he was gone by the time Patty showed up.”

“Yeah. He saved me from getting my ass kicked even worse by distracting Mardon and Jesse.”

Iris’s expression softened at that. “So he did come through.”

“Yes.” Barry nodded. “He may have even saved my life.”

“You really do think he’s capable of good…” Iris said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” Barry said anyway. “And… uh… I… I kind of… kissed him?”

For her part, Iris didn’t look angry, just surprised. “Really? What was that like?”

Barry blinked. “You’re not mad at me?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “He’s your soulmate. And you were attracted to the man before you even bonded. So I would have to be an idiot to not see this coming.” She tilted her head. “So. How was it?”

“Oh my god, Iris. It was so hot.”

That startled a laugh out of Iris. “Mmm, now that’s something I would like to see.”

“Iris!”

“Just saying! Two very attractive men making out? Sounds like my kind of show!” They both laughed and ended up with their arms around each other.

Barry leaned down to rest his forehead against her shoulder. “I love you…” he said quietly.

Iris threaded her fingers through his hair. “I love you too, Barr.”

“He gave me his number. His real phone number. So I can contact him. I want him to be a part of my life. I want to get to know him. But I’m not really sure what to do.”

“Hmm…” Iris hummed in thought. “Invite him over for dinner.”

Barry lifted his head so he could look down at her. “Just like that?”

“Why not? Besides, I would like to get to actually meet your soulmate when he hasn’t broken into our home to leave a dire warning. You need to have a conversation that doesn’t revolve around you being the Flash and him being Captain Cold. So, dinner. We can make Grandma Esther’s amazing lasagna.”

Barry smiled, and then kissed the side of her mouth. “You are literally the best wife ever.”

“I know,” Iris said smugly.

“Come on.” He pulled back so he could hold out his hand to her. She smiled and laced her fingers through his so they could head for the elevator. “We don’t want to keep everyone waiting.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris really is the best wife ever. Hope you enjoyed the tiny bit of coldflash action.


	7. Chapter 7

Len thought Barry was joking when he called two days after Christmas to see if he would be free to come over for dinner. “You want me to come to dinner with your  _ wife _ ? You don’t see the conflict there?”

“Well…” Barry shifted his weight back and forth between his feet. “It keeps you from breaking in again.”

A surprised laugh came from the other end of the line. “Okay, Scarlet. I’ll be there.”

That was how, a few days after the New Year found Barry letting Len into his apartment. Len shrugged out of his leather jacket and let Barry take it. Instead of one of his regular black sweaters, he was wearing a smart, light-blue button-up. Whether it was intentional or not, the color really brought out his eyes. And Barry was a little embarrassed to think that.

Predictably, Len picked up on that, because he smirked. “See something you like?” he practically purred. 

“Somehow, every interaction between you two makes so much more sense,” Iris said as she came to stand beside Barry. Without even thinking about it, he slipped his arm around her waist and she leaned into his side. But Len’s eyes tracked the movement.

“It’s banter,” Barry said. “Not flirting.” No matter what Cisco said.

“It’s banter when you do it with your other villains. It’s flirting when you do it with me,” Len said, smirk still on his face.

Iris laughed and Barry rounded on him. “You mean you were  _ always _ flirting, even before you found out we’re soulmates?”

“Of course,” Len said, like it was obvious.

“I believe you owe Cisco ten dollars for that one,” Iris said. 

Not much changed in Len’s expression, but Barry could feel his amusement at the comment. “I must admit, though, that I never expected to be in a situation like this. Having dinner with my soulmate and his  _ wife _ .”

“That’s certainly weird enough without adding the whole superhero/criminal thing into the mix,” Barry said.

“Then let’s start over,” Iris said. She stepped away from Barry and held out her hand. “Iris West-Allen. Nice to officially meet you.”

Len’s smirk turned into more of a smile as he reached out and shook Iris’s hand gently. “Len Snart. Likewise.”

“Len, huh?” Iris said softly.

“I am not particularly fond of my full name. Though it is nowhere near as bad as Bartholomew,” he teased. 

Barry just rolled his eyes and tried to keep the fondness in check. But he knew he wasn’t succeeding, because he could feel how pleased Len was. “Come on, dinner’s almost ready.” He turned and lead the way over to the dining room table.

Iris walked over to grab two wine glasses in her hand. She glanced over her shoulder at Len. “Would you like wine, Len?”

Len inclined his head in an affirmative and watched the two of them move around the room.

Iris smirked at Barry as she poured two glasses. “Ha. Now you can’t use the excuse of feeling bad that you’re drinking alone.”

Len raised an eyebrow and accepted the other wine glass Iris offered him. “Drinking alone?”

“Well, since Iris can’t drink alcohol right now…” Barry said.

“To be fair, Barry hasn’t really liked drinking much since the whole metahuman thing.”

“Well, it feels like a waste when I’m the only one drinking and it’s not going to do anything to me,” Barry mumbled, but he did take a sip of wine.

Len’s other eyebrow moved up his forehead. “Not going to do anything?” he repeated.

“I can’t get drunk,” Barry explained. “Faster metabolism. I process alcohol faster than I can drink it.”

“Interesting…” Len’s eyes didn’t leave Barry’s face as he took a sip of the wine. “Though I do hope you don’t drink wine with the sole purpose of getting drunk.”

“Well, no. But it used to be nice to have a glass of wine or a beer to take the edge off after a long day.” Barry looked down at his glass. “Can’t do that anymore.”

There was a twinge of something, but then it was gone. In a much lighter tone, Len said, “Well, it does save us from ever having to deal with a drunk Speedster running around the city.”

Iris laughed and Barry frowned. “Hey, I would be very responsible. No drinking and speeding.” That just made Iris laugh harder and Barry felt Len’s mirth. So he went into the kitchen to check on the lasagna. “Okay. Food’s ready!” he announced, and then flashed about setting everything on the table.

Len looked over at Iris. “He does that even at home?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “You have no idea.”

“Hey, standing right here,” Barry said.

“Oh? You’re not still racing around?” Len smirked at him.

“Come on. Let’s just eat.” And yes, Barry did have a whole tray to himself.

“Really?” Len asked in response.

“Did you miss the whole faster metabolism thing. I need to eat something like 20,000 calories every day due to my speed.”

“Damn, Scarlet.”

Iris hummed thoughtfully as she served herself and Len. “You know, I think I just realized you use more pet names for him than either of us do for each other.”

“Well, I refused to call him the “Streak” the first time we met.”

“Hey.”

“No, Iris. We’ve been over this. It was not a good name.”

Len smirked at their interaction. “And I didn’t know his real name for a little while. Besides,” he turned that smirk fully on Barry, “he looks good in red.”

“Now that is true,” Iris said.

Barry felt more than saw the surprise. He figured Len probably didn’t think Iris would ever agree with him on anything, or be so openly okay with him checking out her husband.

“I must admit,” Len said, “you are not what I was expecting, Iris.”

“You expected me to hate you for being Barry’s soulmate and try to keep you away from my husband?” Iris asked levelly. “We’ve known from the beginning the other had a soulmate out there somewhere. And we made a promise to be supportive, no matter what happened.”

“Yes, but there is a difference between thinking you will be supportive, and having no problem with your husband’s soulmate making suggestive comments.”

“Or kissing him,” Barry threw in.

This time, Len’s surprise was way easier to feel than see. He did look at Barry, but kept his face purposefully blank. Though Barry could feel the sudden uptick of surprise-hesitation-heat. “She knows?”

“Of course.” Barry shrugged. “We tell each other everything.”

“And I don’t mind.” Iris looked between the two of them. “I mean, obviously, we’re going to have to figure out what this means going forward, but I get that you’re soulmates. Sexual attraction is normal. Besides, Barry’s thought you were hot since the whole train thing.”

“Iris!”

“Really, now?” Barry pointedly did not look at Len’s face. But he didn’t need to. He could feel how satisfied Len was, with a small current of  _ want _ trailing underneath.

“Yeah. I think the phrase he used was ‘unfairly attractive.’”

Barry turned accusing eyes on Iris. She grinned widely and went back to eating. “It’s not like you were wrong, Barr. Your soulmate is  _ fine _ .”

That actually got a laugh out of Len. “Why thank you, Iris.”

While Iris was clearly teasing him, Barry did feel a thread of fondness from Len. So he smiled softly and let them tease. Len looked up at whatever he picked up off Barry, and his eyes softened in a not-quite smile as well.

“So are you two really feeling each other’s emotions right now?” Iris asked. Barry and Len broke eye contact so they could look at her.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “It’s not consistent. But then, I guess emotions aren’t consistent. But still, I get it in waves.” He looked at Len for confirmation.

“Mm. It’s kind of hard to ignore your emotions, Red. They’re always going off.”

“That’s amazing!” Iris said excitedly. “I didn’t realize you had such a strong bond. Most people can’t feel each other’s emotions unless there’s physical contact.”

“Well, it’s only when we’re in close proximity to each other,” Barry said. “If we get further than fifty yards or so, we can’t feel anything.”

“And it does still get stronger with skin-on-skin contact.” Len didn’t smirk, per se. But the way he looked at Barry, and the air of smugness coming off him made it very clear what he was thinking.

Because the last time they’d had skin-on-skin contact was when they had been kissing. So of course Barry blushed red thinking back to that. And that was when Len finally smirked, once he felt Barry’s embarrassment. The desire Barry picked up off Len just made him blush harder.

Iris watched them. “What was all that?”

Len took a sip of wine. “Skin-on-skin contact,” he explained.

“Last time that happened was when we kissed.”

“Which I knew he was thinking about by the embarrassment.” Len paused. “And arousal.” 

“Pretty sure that was coming from you…” Barry mumbled.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pair of soulmates be able to read each other so well…” Iris munched on her pasta while she looked away in thought. “I wonder if it’s the metahuman thing? I should pitch my editor on doing a story on soulmate bonds that include one or two metahumans—”

“No,” Barry and Len said at the same time.

“Why not?” Iris would probably deny she pouted.

“You can’t let anyone know your husband is a metahuman,” Barry said. “Or that Leonard Snart is his soulmate.”

“It can be anonymous! Come on, Barr!”

“I’m sure you can find another pair of soulmates that include a metahuman. You’re resourceful like that.”

“Ruin all my fun…” This time, Iris really did pout. “But really, your bond is really strong for two people who spend hardly any time with each other.”

“And for all intents and purposes, are enemies,” Len said.

“Were,” Barry corrected. Len looked at him, but he couldn’t quite cover the little stir of pleasure that gave him. “You did save the Flash’s life.”

“I made it quite clear that I was there because Mardon wasn’t playing by my rules, not to save the Flash.” He looked over at Iris. “No matter what the reporter who wasn’t present on the scene said.”

Iris smiled innocently. “I got quotes from all the witnesses and cops who saw it go down. They saw the way you helped the Flash take down Mardon and Jesse. Besides, everyone liked that the Rogue’s gone rogue.”

Len snorted as he took another drink. “I did appreciate the headline of your article.”

“And what about next time?” Barry grinned.

“So sure there is going to be a next time, Scarlet?”

Barry’s grin didn’t falter one bit. “Yes.”

This time Len gave him a small, honest smile. So he knew without a doubt that he was right. All of this was pushing Len towards changing for the better. The conversation moved to more mundane topics for the rest of dinner. When Iris started to stand to clear the table, Barry stopped her with the reminder she was pregnant and he had super speed, and stopped Len with the excuse that he was the guest. He commanded them to move to the living room while he set about clearing the table.

Len could tell from his emotions that he was trying to get them to talk without Barry as a mediator, and Iris had known Barry long enough that she didn’t need to read his emotions to know what he was doing. But they both followed his instructions. He had talked to Len about their bond, and he had talked to Iris about what it meant, but he needed the two of them to talk to each other. He had to make sure it was going to work between them. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to eavesdrop. He piled the dishes in the sink to soak in half a minute, and then returned to the doorway to linger out of sight and listen in on their conversation.

“He is not subtle,” Iris sighed.

“No, he really is not,” Len agreed. “I suppose we should talk, though. As I imagine you do have questions for me.”

“Mm. I know Barry wants you around. So what do you want? From him?”

“To be honest, I do want him. I never planned for a platonic soulmate bond. From the moment the mark appeared on my skin, I knew what I wanted. And I want him. I’ve wanted him since before I found out we were bonded.”

“We could tell. Barry might have been the only one who didn’t notice how obviously you flirted with him.” Barry felt Len’s fond amusement, and he could just imagine he was shaking his head at how clueless Barry was. 

“I don’t mind,” Iris said after a pause. “If you two decide to be together, I don’t mind. I would never try to break up a soulmate bond. Barry and I have known since we started dating that there might come a time where we’d have to not be exclusive. I never met my soulmate. He died several months ago. Barry was there for me as I cried over another man. So I’m there for him while he explores whatever this is between you two. But I want you to know, I’m not going away. Just because I’m okay with you two being together, if that’s what Barry wants, doesn’t mean I’m not still going to be his wife. So you have to be okay with that.” There was another pause. From her tone, Barry could picture the stare-down Iris was giving Len. “You can ask Barry. But he’ll say the same thing. If you’re not okay with me being a part of Barry’s life, then you’re out. That’s what we promised each other.”

Barry felt the conflicting emotions that rolled through Len at that statement. Jealously did flare up, hot and fast. But it was gone just as quickly. He was sure Len had never expected he would have to  _ share _ his soulmate, after all. Then there was deep contemplation. The want was there, plus something that felt like pain, but was gone too quickly. There was also an eagerness and awe. Len was impressed with Iris.

“So either I am willing to share a relationship with my soulmate, or I don’t get him at all?” Len’s word choice was pointedly chosen to rile Iris up. But she didn’t rise to the bait.

“You know Barry. He wouldn’t cut you out completely. And I wouldn’t make him do that. It’d be far too painful. But it wouldn’t be a romantic bond at all. It wouldn’t be what you  _ want _ .”

Barry waited with his his breath held for Len’s answer. His emotions were on a low simmer as they flicked from one thing to another. And then they settled on that same awe-determination-satisfaction that Barry knew meant Len was going to agree. He let out a slow breath just as Len said, “That seems reasonable to me. You were here first, after all.”

“Good. And you don’t push Barry for anything he doesn’t want.”

“Of course not. Though I am fairly certain he wants it.”

“So am I,” Iris said with a wistful little sigh. There was a pause and then, “What?”

“You seem a bit…”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind watching. Barry’s not the only one who finds you attractive.”

Whiplash quick, desire and hunger and satisfaction rose up in Len’s emotions. The amusement that seemed to color everything was still there as well.

“That can be arranged,” Len said so quietly that Barry barely heard it. And then much louder, “Feels like Barry would enjoy that too!”

Barry stepped back from the doorway. Of course Len could feel his emotions reacting to everything during the whole conversation. He zipped about actually washing the dishes, and then left them to dry on the counter. He walked out into the living room, going for nonchalant. “What are we talking about?”

Iris laughed. “You are such a bad liar, Barr.”

“I am not opposed to the idea of a threesome,” Len said, like he was talking about the weather. He smirked at Barry and then pushed himself to his feet off the couch. “If Barry wants both of us, let’s take advantage of him having both of us.” Barry knew he was blushing bright red. So Len just smiled. “Though I suppose that will have to be another time. Let me know when you’re ready for more, Scarlet.” Len started to head towards the door, but then he paused and looked from Barry to Iris.

Iris nodded encouragingly, and Barry only had half a moment to be confused before Len was closing the distance between them, and then his brain clicked on, and yeah,  _ oh yeah _ , he could be on board with this idea.

Len chuckled as he slid one hand onto Barry’s hip and the other around the side of his neck. He pressed his lips to Barry’s in a slow and sensual kiss. Barry’s eyes fluttered closed as he gripped the front of Len’s shirt. It wasn’t as intense as last time. Their emotions weren’t fighting over each other, but instead hummed together in sync.

Barry parted his lips slightly and eagerly allowed Len to slide his tongue in. He moaned around the feeling and licked and nipped at Len’s lips before going back to kiss him again. Len’s hand on his hip tightly slightly as they chased the dizzying feeling all the way down. He used his hand there to gently pull Barry closer. Barry pressed into him and could feel he was getting hard from just the kiss. They both were. And if they kept going, this might turn into more than a kiss.

When they pulled back, they stayed close. Len’s fingers slipped up to the hair at the back of Barry’s neck to run through the short strands. Barry shivered at the sensation. He slowly let go of Len’s shirt and smoothed down the creases he had caused by bunching it up in his fists. After, he settled his hands on Len’s chest and looked up to meet his eyes. There was something there he couldn’t read, and an emotion coming off him that he couldn’t understand.

“Wow.”

The short noise broke Barry and Len out of their moment.They both looked over to see Iris sitting on the couch, pretending to fan herself with her hand.

“You are definitely not keeping that all to yourself, Barry,” Iris declared.

Barry smiled and Len chuckled again. He slowly dropped his hands and stepped away, the stronger connection trailing after him. “I am looking forward to it.” Once again, he turned for the door and grabbed his jacket on the way. 

Barry followed after him, still somewhat in a daze. He held the door open and tried not to lean against it too much like a teenage girl in love.

Len gazed at him softly. “Have a good night, Barry.” He looked over Barry’s shoulder at Iris and nodded his head. “Good night, Iris.” He gave Barry one last small smile and then he was gone.

Barry stood there stupidly for a few seconds before he closed the door and turned to look back at Iris.

“Day- _ um _ ,” Iris said. “That was maybe the single hottest thing I have ever seen.”

Barry smiled weakly and made his way over to the couch. He leaned over the back to look down at her. “You’re really okay with this?” he asked tentatively.

“Oh, Barr. Of course, I am.” Iris reached up to put her palm against his cheek. “This is your soulmate. You clearly want each other. And as long as you don’t leave me behind, and possibly  _ include _ me, then I’m perfectly okay with this. After everything that you’ve been through, you deserve to be  _ happy. _ ”

Barry smiled and turned his head to kiss her palm. “You make me happy.”

Iris smiled. “I know. But he’ll make you happy too. And you’re already turning him away from being a criminal. Maybe that’s why you two are soulmates. So he could be your ally, and you could show him a better life than one filled with crime.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Iris moved her hand so she could lean up and kiss Barry. She pulled back just enough to whisper against his lips, “Since you two decided to get all hot and bothered…”

Barry laughed and whisked Iris away to the bedroom.

 

What a long day. Barry ran his fingers through his hair as he left the precinct. The whole thing with Turtle had been a pain in the ass. Another one of Joe’s partners was leaving soon. And both Iris and Joe were having trouble connecting with the new West family member.

Barry pulled his phone out when he felt it buzzing away in his pocket. A small smile came to his face when Len’s name appeared on the screen. They’d talked a few times since the impromptu dinner just after New Year’s, especially since all three of them now had each other’s numbers. Something Iris had surprisingly taken advantage of.

Barry clicked the accept button and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey, Len.”

“Barry.” While there was no waver in Len’s voice, something in his tone made Barry stop walking.

He frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Len didn’t answer. “Are you free to meet? Right now?”

“Sure. Where are you?”

“At a safehouse, but I’ll meet you at the park on Gibbons.”

Barry nodded, even though Len couldn’t see. “Be there soon.” He ended the call and raced over to the park Len had mentioned. He looped the park once and then saw Len walking in from the west entrance. He made sure no was looking before stopping by his soulmate.

As soon as Barry came out of the Speedforce, he could pick up on Len’s swirling emotions. There was some kind of hesitation, and wonder, and regret. Len turned to face Barry and smiled lightly at the searching look Barry was giving him.

“Thanks for meeting me.”

“Sure. You sounded like…” Barry lead the way off the path so they could have a bit more privacy. Though there weren’t many people around in the middle of a day in January. “What happened?” he asked.

“I received an… interesting proposition.” His emotions were still a mess, so Barry couldn’t make heads or tails of what he was suggesting. He walked over to one of the park benches and settled down on it.

Barry gingerly sat next to him. “For what?”

“To travel through time with a Brit from the future who calls himself Rip Hunter—” Barry frowned at the name. He could swear he’d heard it before. “—to stop an immortal dictator named Vandal Savage.”

“Vandal Savage?” Barry sat up straight at that. “That’s impossible. We stopped him. We  _ destroyed _ him.”

“Yes, the time traveler mentioned that. You met a Kendra and Carter?” Barry nodded. “Apparently they’re the only one who can kill Savage, otherwise it doesn’t take. So I’m sure the two of them are in, who knows about the others.”

“Others?”

Len nodded. “This Rip Hunter asked eight of us to join this little crusade.” He smirked to himself. “He said we’d become legends.”

“Who else? Anyone I know?”

“That Kendra and Carter. They were wearing very strange leather getups. Almost as bad as yours, Scarlet.”

“Hey.” There was no heat behind Barry’s comment. Though he did try hard not to smile at the old joke.

“Martin Stein and some kid.”

“Probably Jax. Jefferson Jackson. Professor Stein’s new other half of Firestorm.”

“The billionaire inventor everyone thought blew himself up. Ray Palmer.”

“Ray too?” Barry smiled. “He’s a good guy. A real hero.”

Len rolled his eyes. “Yes, he was practically jumping like an excited puppy at the opportunity without even hearing the pitch about saving the world first. And some blonde chick. Looked deadly enough to be able to take out everyone on that roof.”

Barry ignored the “roof” part of that comment and focused on the person. “Blonde? If he is picking up Oliver and my allies, then that could be the Black Canary.”

“Oliver?” Len raised an eyebrow and Barry internally cursed himself at his stupid slip. Maybe Len wouldn’t put it together… “Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow.”

“Um…”

“Relax, Kid. I had my suspicions before now, anyway. But I stay out of Star City. Way too much crazy going on there.”

“If Oliver finds out I let that slip…”

Len shook his head with a small smile. “I won’t tell. Though all you hero-types need to do a better job protecting your “secret” identities.” He looked at Barry again. “And no, she wasn’t the Black Canary. Too short.”

“Oh! Then not Laurel, but her sister, Sara. The  _ previous _ Black Canary. I’ve never met her. She only recently came back.”

“From what?”

“Uh. The dead.”

Len stared at him. “Well. Part of this story involves time travel, an immortal, and a couple who reincarnate. So sure. Why not?”

Barry was amused by how easily Len accepted the whole coming-back-from-the-dead thing. “So, Kendra and Carter, Jax and Professor Stein, Ray and Sara. And you. Who’s the last one?”

“Oh, and Mick.”

“Rip Hunter invited  _ Mick _ ?”

Len glared at the scepticism coming off his soulmate. “Mick’s my partner. Got a problem with that?”

“Oh my god, that break-in last night, that was you two! I was too busy dealing with other things to check it out.” Len frowned and looked away. “I thought you were going to try to stop doing stuff like that…”

“I never said I would stop stealing…” Len mumbled. “Just that I might help the Flash out from time to time.”

“And now this guy wants you to be a hero.” Barry looked away. “And Mick.” He looked back to see Len was watching him. “What are you going to do?”

“Mick thinks it’s a stupid idea, of course.” Len shrugged. “I.. am undecided.” He looked up at Barry and didn’t need to ask for his opinion. His emotions did that on their own.

Barry hesitated and chewed on his bottom lip. On the one hand, maybe this was exactly the kind of push Len would need to really be a better person. On the other, that meant he was going to go off on some journey through time, which meant he wouldn’t be around for Barry to talk to. They wouldn’t be able to figure out what exactly their relationship was going to be.

“I think…” Barry started, and then he paused to lick his lips. “I think you should go. You’re being given an opportunity to save the world.” 

Len looked at him. “You don’t want me to stay?”

Barry smiled. “I want you to learn to embrace the good I see in you.” He knew Len was going to roll his eyes at that, so Barry reached out and gently touched the back of Len’s hand. Their connection ratcheted up a few notches.

Len looked down at their hands in surprise, and then he looked back at Barry’s face. “I’m going to have to think of something to convince Mick. No way am I going on this mission with all those  _ heroes _ on my own.”

Barry nodded. “Good. You’ll have someone to watch your back.” 

“You know that means I may not see you for a little while.” Len titled his head. “Or maybe not. Maybe he’ll bring us back to the day we left.”

Barry moved his fingers to curl around Len’s hand. “Be careful, Len. Time travel is…”

“Wait, why do you know anything about time travel?”

“I…”

“Oh my god. You’ve time traveled before.” Len stared at him in shock.

“I can kind of runfastenoughtocreateawormwholeandtravelthroughtime.”

“You are going to have to  _ explain _ that to me at some point.”

“All I’m saying is that Time doesn’t work the way you think it does. So be careful.”

Len continued to stare at him for a moment, but then he nodded slowly. “Noted. I’ll keep an eye on this Rip Hunter character as well. He seems a little sketchy.”

“Good. I guess…” Barry offered a small smile, “I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Sure, Scarlet.” Len squeezed his hand, which was how Barry had the warning he was about to do something, and then he leaned forward and kissed Barry softly. “One for the road,” Len mumbled against his lips, and then he stood up, breaking their contact. 

“Can’t wait to hear how it goes.” Barry smiled.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be one of the first people I come see when we get back.” He gazed at Barry for a moment, and then headed back out of the park the way he had come. Barry nodded, satisfied that he had helped push his soulmate down the right path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are getting into Legends.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this is rated explicit for a reason.

Barry was a little worried that he wouldn’t see Len for a while. He couldn’t speak to whatever mode of transportation this Rip Hunter was using, but he knew how imprecise time travel was for him. So he let Iris know.

“And you didn’t want to take him up on that threesome offer first?” she asked, a tease in her voice.

Barry sighed dramatically. “I think he was in a hurry, anyway.”

He was prepared to not see Len for weeks or even months. However, what he was not prepared for, was to find Len standing in his doorway two days later.

“Len?” Barry asked uncertainly. Len stood there in his usual Captain Cold outfit, but without his blue parka. For some reason, he looked so much smaller that way. And Barry didn’t miss how he had his hand resting on the handle of his cold gun. Though it seemed more for comfort than as a threat.

There was a strange mix of disappointment and regret and resignation coming through their bond that Barry didn’t understand. But he did push the door open wider and allow his soulmate into the apartment. Iris was working late, so they were the only ones there. Len wandered past Barry to deposit his cold gun on the coffee table and start pacing around the living room.

“What’s going on?” Barry asked softly. “Is this you back from the mission or…”

“No,” Len said. “Barely gone a day.” There was hesitation and consideration. Barry could practically see the gears turning in Len’s head as he tried to work out what to say. “As it turns out, Rip lied to us. But I never really trusted him. He was sketchy from the start. It’s not that. And it’s not that he lied about the eight of us becoming legends in the future. It’s… He said he chose us because our disappearances would have the smallest impact on the timeline.” Len stopped pacing so he could look at Barry. “Apparently we are insignificant to history.”

Barry frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. If you weren’t gathered to stop Vandal Savage, what did he want?”

“Ah, see, we were gathered to go after the immortal.” Len help up a finger. “But he told us it was an official “Time Master” mission.”

“Time Master. Really? Someone watched too much Doctor Who when they came up with that name.”

Len smiled at his comment. “Turns out he has gone rogue.” He smirked. “Normally, I would be all for this, except he used the excuse of the organization he used to work for to recruit us. Turns out Savage killed his family, and he wants us to help him stop Savage in the past before that happens.”

Barry tensed up. Len stopped his exasperated rant to look over in concern.

“Scarlet?”

“That… Changing time for personal reasons… That’s not good.”

Len narrowed his eyes at Barry. “You say that like you have experience.”

“I… do…” Barry rubbed the back of his neck. “This is a long story, but basically, the Reverse Flash was really Wells, but not really. He was from the future, and he came back to kill me, but an older version of myself stopped him, so he killed my mom instead. He got stuck here without his speed, and his actions would've prevented me from becoming the Flash, so he had to create the Particle Accelerator explosion to make me the Flash so I could create a wormhole so he could return to his own time. He offered me the chance to save my mom, but that version of me from the future told me not to, and my return caused the Singularity that killed people last summer.”

Len stared at him. “That’s the  _ basic _ version?”

“Well, it does cover events that happened over the course of fourteen years…” Barry said sheepishly. “But the point is: time travel for selfish or personal reasons doesn’t tend to end well.”

Len grunted in acknowledgement. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that would stop him from following through with his plan.”

“So what happened?”

Len sighed and placed his hands on his hips. “We made one time jump. And boy, that was a  _ nightmare _ . 1975. And immediately, the good captain decided he only wanted the upstanding citizens on this mission. So Mick, Sara, and I found a bar instead.”

Despite Len’s general agitated state, Barry knew the three of them must’ve gotten up to something by the brief bit of mischief and amusement that came over their bond. But then it was gone.

“When we got back, it was to a shootout between the rest of the team and some Boba Fett-looking bounty hunter.”

Barry tried really hard not to smirk at the comment, but of course Len felt it.

“Yes, Scarlet. I am capable of making Star Wars references.” He smiled at Barry and then shook his head. “The group had brought some professor guy who had studied Vandal Savage throughout history back with them. And no sooner had we made it back aboard the  _ time ship _ —” Len said the word like he still thought it was ridiculous “—than the guy collapsed dead, in Kendra’s arms.” He held up his hands. “ _ Apparently _ the guy had been Mr. and Mrs. Reincarnates’ son in a previous life. So they were all torn up about that. And that was when it came out that  _ Rip _ had lied to us all because he wanted to save his family.”

“So, then… what? He just brought you all back?” Barry asked.

“He offered us the chance to back out, since he had lied to us. And  _ I _ pointed out if he really wanted to give us the opportunity to reconsider, he should bring us back so we could have the same deliberation period we had before without being stuck on that ship.”

Barry smiled lightly. “You wanted to come back here.”

“I did talk to  _ you _ the first time around.” Len didn’t quite smile, but Barry could see it in his eyes. “Besides, as soon as I said it, the others agreed. The Star City lot wanted to hash it out with their people. And the kid and the professor needed to seriously discuss consent.”

Barry held up his hand. “I don’t even want to know.” He looked at Len. “So. What are you going to do?”

Len shook his head. “I never really cared about the legends or saving the world part. But after everything, I don’t understand how we could be…  _ I _ could be insignificant to history.”

Barry moved closer to him at that. He put his hands on Len’s arms so Len could more easily feel the warmth Barry had for him. “That can’t be true.” He squeezed Len’s arms gently to try to get him to look at him. “Even with what’s already happened, what you’ve done as Captain Cold isn’t insignificant.”

“Perhaps.” Len sounded like he didn’t believe Barry. “Mick said he doesn’t care one way or the other. He was never into the  _ super villain schtick _ , as he says. He just wants to burn stuff. And the bird people, I’m sure, will be on board. But if this Time Master thinks I’m insignificant, maybe I should stay here and prove I’m not.”

Barry didn’t roll his eyes, but he wanted to. “While I wouldn’t really mind you staying. Maybe it’s a loop? Maybe it appears you all are insignificant because he can’t track you once you start jumping around through time? In that way, you’d actually be more significant than anything I could do here.”

“It really is amazing how you manage to be optimistic about everything, Scarlet.” Len gave him a weak smile.

“Well, someone has to be.” Barry leaned in close. “I refuse to believe we have no control over our destinies. I’ve had someone try to control years of my life before. It’s not happening again.” He smirked. “Besides, you don’t strike me as the kind of man to let someone  _ else _ tell you what your fate is.”

Len stared at him for a moment, almost as if this hadn’t occurred to him. And then his mouth was on Barry’s, and he was kissing him like his life depended on it. Barry didn’t even hesitate to kiss back. He moved his arms around Len’s shoulders, and Len took the opportunity to wrap his left arm around Barry’s waist and tug him closer.

Len licked his way into Barry’s mouth. He pushed Barry’s feet apart so he could wedge his thigh up between Barry’s legs. Barry groaned and clung onto Len’s shoulders tighter. He tried to not just grind down against Len’s leg. He didn’t want to seem that needy. But he had to admit it wasn’t easy with all his synapses firing off at their point of contact.

Everything he was feeling was being mirrored back to him from Len’s emotions, and amplified by their physical contact. All that want and heat and desire and  _ lust _ , and just finally finally  _ finally _ . So yeah, Barry did grind down on the thigh pressed between his legs a bit, just needing to relieve the pressure.

Len’s right hand roamed down the front of his body as he moved to nip at Barry’s lips and kiss along the side of his face. Barry didn’t really notice. Instead, he focused on closing his eyes and tilting his head back so Len could get to his neck. But his attention snapped right down to Len’s hand when it slipped up under his shirt and found the edge of his soulmark.

Barry dropped his head back and moaned. He was surprised he didn’t come in his pants right then and there. In fact, just having Len touch his soulmark felt better than any orgasm he had ever had in his life. (He mentally apologized to Iris for that thought.) He knew his soulmark was sensitive like any other erogenous zone, and that it would feel different depending on who touched it. But god  _ damn _ , he had no idea how different. 

When Iris touched his soulmark it always felt kind of nice, kind of sensitive, but nothing major. Her own soulmark had always been way less sensitive than his, but hers was on her neck, so it was out in the open way more often, whereas hardly anyone ever got to see his mark, with its placement above his left hip. However, when Iris’s soulmate died, she couldn’t bear to have anyone else touch her mark for weeks. She said it hurt like pressing into a fresh bruise when other people touched her. So she kept her hand on the side of her neck for days.

This, though, this was like nothing else. All Len did was press his palm against Barry’s mark, and Barry felt like he was going to melt into the floor. He could barely even breathe and was way past the point of being self-conscious about how loud he was moaning. Len mouthed along his neck, and then shifted his hand to wrap his fingers around Barry’s side so he could stroke his thumb over Barry’s soulmark.

“Ahhh… Len…” Barry got out through gasps. “Len, I need…” Barry dropped one hand down to Len’s chest and scrambled for the hem of his sweater. The other had a death grip on his shoulder, which was probably one of the only reasons Barry was still standing. “I need…” He could feel how turned on Len was by having Barry completely at his mercy. Barry finally found the edge of Len’s sweater and yanked it up so he could slide his hand up Len’s surprisingly warm skin. He didn’t need to see what he was doing to find Len’s mark. It was like a magnet, he could just tell where it was, and it felt different from the rest of his skin.

Barry heard Len gasp against the side of his face before Len’s teeth sank into the base of his neck. Barry gently slid his fingers over Len’s soulmark again and felt Len press his thumb down harder into Barry’s own mark in response. Len’s knees shook and it was a wonder they were able to still stand at all.

“ _ Barry _ …” 

Barry didn’t think he’d ever heard anything as erotic as the way Len gasped his name. He licked over the spot on Barry’s neck that he had just bitten. If Barry didn’t heal so quickly, it would have left one hell of a hickey.

“Barry, I need you…” Len whispered against his neck.

“By all means, don’t let me interrupt  _ that _ .”

Barry jerked back in surprised. If Len hadn’t tightened his arm around Barry’s waist, Barry would have gone flailing down to the ground. He looked over to see Iris standing in the doorway with her coat half off. She was watching Len and Barry appraisingly, with a small smirk on her lips. Barry flushed red. He hadn’t even heard the door open; he’d been so wrapped up in the feeling of Len’s hand on him.

“H-hey, Iris.” God, he couldn’t even pretend his voice didn’t sound shaky and breathless. If it weren’t for the fact that they had all their clothes still on, he wouldn’t put it past her to think they had just been fucking against the wall. “We were… uh…”

Iris waved her hand as she finally got her coat and her shoes off. She tossed her bag over the back of the couch. “It’s okay, Barr. If you and Len want to have sex, go right ahead.” When she moved slightly closer, he could see her eyes were darker than usual, and there was a slight flush to her cheeks. She was turned on by the thought of him and Len together.

Barry turned and looked at Len. They were still standing close, what with Len’s arm still wrapped around his waist, and his other hand lingering over his hip, just under his soulmark. He raised one eyebrow in Iris’s direction and Len looked at him for a moment before giving a short, quick nod.

So Barry turned his head back to Iris and smirked lightly. “Or you could join us.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked between the two of them. Barry expected her to readily agree. But instead she bit her lip in hesitation and rubbed her arm. “Are you sure, Barr? This is your first time with your  _ soulmate _ . I wouldn’t want to… intrude.”

“You were the one who’s pushed for a threesome,” Barry reminded her.

Iris flushed in response. “Yes, but at some point down the line. Your first time with your soulmate is supposed to be special. You don’t want me to be third-wheeling it.”

“You won’t be.” Barry pulled back enough so Len’s hand slipped out from under his shirt completely and he could move closer to take Iris’s hand.

“I do believe you were the one who said you wanted to be included,” Len said with a smirk.

Iris looked between the two of them again. “You’re really okay with this? Both of you?”

Barry nodded and Len said, “Wouldn’t offer if we weren’t.”

“So what do you say we stop standing around in the living room… and move to the bedroom?” Barry suggested. He tried to keep his voice confident, but he was sure he still sounded a bit tentative.

Even if it didn’t come out in his voice, Len certainly picked up on it from his emotions. So he held out his hand palm-up to Iris. Barry squeezed the hand he was already holding, and Iris reached out slowly and took Len’s with her other one.

That was all Barry needed. He tugged Iris’s hand and pulled his two lovers to the bedroom. Once they were in there, he pulled Iris closer so she wouldn’t think she was just a third wheel, as she had said. He kissed her softly, and he could feel Len’s pleased little hum at the sight. His hand moved back to Barry’s right hip, and then he slipped around and behind Barry. He settled his fingers on Barry’s hips and used his new position to start sliding Barry’s shirt up.

Once Iris realized what Len was going for, she made quick work of unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders, while she allowed Len to pull Barry’s undershirt over his head immediately after. Then she dragged Barry back down into a much more heated kiss while Len started mouthing at his bare neck and shoulders from behind.

It was quite intense, feeling two sets of hands on him like that. It made him feel like he wasn’t keeping up. He fumbled for the side zipper of Iris’s dress. She’d said she’d wanted to try to still wear her dresses while she could before she became too big with the baby. Even now, there was a noticeable little bump at her stomach. Before he could move to get the dress off, though, Iris dropped her hands to his pants and unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants so she could slide her hand straight into his boxers.

Barry groaned when Iris’s slim fingers wrapped around him. He felt Len smirk against his shoulder blade. He also picked up how that sound seriously turned Len on. He skirted his fingertips along Barry’s bare hip and slid his left hand up to cup Barry’s soulmark. Between Iris’s hand slowly stroking him, and Len’s hand on his mark, he thought he was going to melt into the floor from the overstimulation.

“Th-that’s not fair…” he managed to stutter out. “Teaming up on me like that…”

Len chuckled and helped Iris slide Barry’s slacks and boxers down his legs. “What did you think was going to happen, Scarlet? You’d be able to take on both of us?”

He heard more than saw Iris laugh in response to that. Before he even realized it, he was completely naked between the other two, who were still mostly fully clothes. Iris pecked him once on the lips, and then kissed down his chest until she was on her knees in front of him. Len traced lazy circles with the pads of his fingers around Barry’s soulmark and looked over Barry’s shoulder to watch Iris take Barry in her mouth.

Barry’s eyes fluttered closed at the warm, wet heat enveloping him. They’d been together for a while now, so Iris knew every little trick that got Barry to react. It didn’t help that he was even more sensitive after becoming the Flash with how fast his cells regenerated. 

“Hmm… I’ve got an idea,” Len said. Iris raised her eyes to meet his and she pulled back slowly so she instead was licking along Barry’s length and stroked him slowly. Barry groaned and flexed his fingers at his sides to keep from getting too grabby. “You have lube?” Len directed his question at Iris.

She nodded. “Bedside table on the left.”

Len’s body heat left Barry’s back and his hand slipped off Barry’s soulmark, leaving him with a crashing, heavy feeling. Before he could voice any complaints, Iris took him deep in her mouth again, and he instead moaned and carded his fingers through her hair. And then Len was back. This time, he wrapped his right arm around Barry’s waist so he could press the palm of his right hand flat against Barry’s mark.

“Doing okay there, Scarlet?” Len asked calmly. He licked up Barry’s neck and sucked his earlobe between his teeth. Barry could feel his amusement, but also knew he was practically as aroused as Barry was.

“Nnn…” was the only intelligent thing Barry could get out. He continued to stroke his fingers through Iris’s hair and couldn’t decide if he should focus on the way she was sucking him down or the feel of his soulmate touching his soulmark and leaning against his back. That was until he felt one slick finger at his entrance. Oh right. Lube. That’s what Len had disappeared to get a minute ago. Sneaky bastard.

He must’ve been reading Barry’s emotions for permission, because he didn’t say anything else before pushing his index finger in. Barry gave out a breathy moan and twisted his head so he could grab the back of Len’s head with his right hand and bring his face close enough to crash their lips together. The angle was awkward and the technique was sloppy since he now had Iris and Len going at him from three separate points of stimulation, but Len didn’t seem to mind as he kissed back eagerly. 

Len added a second finger. The stretch was a little intense, but not too bad. Maybe it would’ve burned more if he didn’t have other things to focus on. He found a better rhythm against Len’s mouth and bit his lower lip before going in for another deep kiss. Iris did a particularly thrilling thing with her tongue, and his fingers tightened in her hair. And then Len’s questing fingers found Barry’s prostate.

Barry had to pull back from the kiss so he could breathe or moan or do both at the same time. It was probably only the fact that Iris had her hands on Barry’s thighs and Len had his arm wrapped tightly around Barry’s waist that he was even still standing.

“Oh fuck me…” Barry groaned, tilting his head back so he could breathe more easily.

Len chuckled, but he was also crazy turned on by the feedback he was getting from Barry. Even though he still had all his clothes on, Barry could feel his hardness pressed against Barry’s backside. “That can be arranged…” he practically purred against Barry’s ear. He licked and sucked at Barry’s neck as he continued his onslaught against Barry’s prostate with his fingers. 

Barry was reduced to a whimpering mess between Iris’s mouth and Len’s fingers, so he just tightened his grip both in her hair and against the back of his head, only trying to hold on for the ride.

“Ah-ah… guys… I’m close…”

Len stilled his ministrations, but didn’t pull his fingers out. He hooked his chin over Barry’s shoulder and looked down at Iris. “Suppose we should stop then, Mrs. West-Allen. I have more plans for Barry.”

Iris pulled off Barry with a pop. She continued to stroke him at a torturously slow pace and smirked up at Len. “That won’t be a problem. Barry has an almost nonexistent refractory period.”

The spike in arousal Len had from that comment made Barry moan loudly. He dropped his head back onto Len’s shoulder, now fully aware that he was only still on his feet because Len was holding him up.

“In that case…” Len’s voice was so husky and thick with lust. “Please feel free to continue.” At the same time as he said that, he pressed on Barry’s prostate with his fingers and resumed fingering him with a vengeance. 

Iris smirked up at them and licked one long stripe up the underside of Barry’s cock, and swallowed him down again. It only took a few more strokes before he was coming down her throat. He opened his mouth to cry out his orgasm, but Len leaned over and captured his lips, so he ended up moaning into Len’s open mouth.

Len held Barry up through the aftershocks as he bit and nipped at Barry’s lips. Barry stroked his fingers along the back of Len’s head, rather than just hold him there. He sighed softly when Len pulled his fingers out of Barry. They broke apart when Iris rose to her feet once again. She slid her hands up his sides and smirked up at him.

“Still good, Barr?”

“Give… give me a minute…” Barry panted, which made Len laugh. However, a minute for him went by in the blink of an eye. He should have felt guilty for tapping into the Speedforce to slow down time so he could catch his breath, but he didn’t.

Iris smirked over Barry’s shoulder at Len. “I think we did good work.”

“Oh, this is only the beginning,” Len said.

Iris tilted her head, and there was a mischievous glint in her eye. “Though Barry shouldn’t get all the attention…”

“Agreed.” Barry didn’t need to see Len’s face to know he was smirking. He let go of Barry so he could lean around him and place his hand on Iris’s waist to pull her close enough that he could kiss her softly.

Iris draped her arms around Len’s neck. The kiss was gentle, not quite chaste, but nowhere near the heated kisses he’d just been trading with each of them. Len let out a pleased little hum and licked at Iris’s lips. Barry knew Len was chasing the taste of him in Iris’s mouth and that was unfairly hot.

“That is unfairly hot,” Barry practically moaned. He was already hard again. “Now I know what you guys get from watching me with the other one.”

Iris pulled back to smile at him. “Ready to go again?”

“Hell yeah.”

He tapped into the Speedforce again to zip forward and finally got the zipper on Iris’s dress the rest of the way down so he could slide it off her shoulders and down her frame. He scooped her up and deposited her gently on the bed with one quick kiss. Then he spun around to grab Len and pull him down onto the bed as well.

Having popped in and out of the Speedforce, they were a bit confused at their new positions, but seemed to catch up pretty quickly. Barry leaned forward to kiss Len as he pulled his sweater over his head. Len huffed a laugh and glanced over at Iris. “Bit eager, isn’t he?”

“The first orgasm just gets him going,” she said cheekily.

“I’m right here, guys,” Barry said. He rolled his eyes as he loomed over Len. Neither of them seemed very impressed, but Barry was just pleased he’d leveled the playing field somewhat in their respective states of undress.

Iris leaned back on one hand and rested the other on her slightly rounded stomach. She sat in only her bra and underwear, so with nothing covering her middle, it was very clear she was pregnant. Barry leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against her stomach, and then pulled back so he could smile up at Iris.

The twinge of loneliness he felt had him turning back around to look at Len, who shut down the feelings he was projecting right away. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you.” He leaned down and pressed his mouth to Len’s soulmark, which was a bit hidden by swirls of ink, probably in an attempt to cover up the fact he was marked at all. But Barry knew every stroke of Len’s soulmark, because he’d spent his whole life with its twin on his skin.

Len tilted his head back and bit his lip, probably in an attempt to keep from moaning as wantonly as Barry had before. But his hand went to Barry’s hair and he tangled his fingers in the strands.

“Barry…” he said softly. When Barry pulled back, he smirked up at his soulmate, pleased that he’d gotten his mind back on track.

He sat back on his heels and looked between his wife and his soulmate. Iris crooked her finger at him. “C’mere.” She readjusted so she had herself propped up against the pillows on the bed. Barry crawled up her body so he could capture her lips again. She stroked her fingers over his shoulder and down his back. He slid his hands under her back so he could find the clasp on her bra and pull it off.

He followed by gliding his lips down her jaw and neck and the rise of her breasts, but he looked to the side when he heard a rustling to see Len was removing the last of his clothes, himself. Barry took a moment to admire his soulmate. He let his eyes roam slowly down his body and took in every details, from the close-cropped salt and pepper hair and ice-blue eyes, to the numerous (very numerous) scars that littered his arms and torso, to the few tattoos on his skin, and further.

Len stroked himself with no urgency as he watched Barry watch him. Barry tried not to color red at being caught staring, which just made Len smirk, because  _ of course _ he picked up on it. “What do you think, Red?” The nickname was very pointed this time. “I imagine your wife would appreciate you returning the favor.”

“Mmmm…” Iris hummed as she danced her fingers along Barry’s back. “Wouldn’t say no…”

So Barry turned back to letting his mouth explore Iris’s skin. When he reached her hips, he hooked his fingers in the waistband on her underwear and slid them down in one fluid motion. A little thrill went through him when he realized all three of them were now naked. He was bracketed by two amazing and attractive people, and that thought made him a little dizzy with pleasure.

“Hm, what are you thinking about, Scarlet?” Len asked as he settled behind Barry once again with his hand on Barry’s lower back.

“Just happy we have a chance to do this.” He glanced at Len over his shoulder and then looked back down at Iris, catching her eye. “All of us.”

He knew what Len was going to do the moment before he felt his hands and mouth on his skin. He settled both hands on Barry’s hips and pressed up against him, his hard length pressing against Barry’s back. “This okay?” he whispered in Barry’s ear.

“Yeah… I mean, I haven’t… uh… been with a guy since college.” He grinned over his shoulder at Len. “But don’t worry, I pick things up again fast.”

Iris groaned. “Oh my god, Barry. No wonder you two are soul-ahhhnnn….”

Barry smirked up from between her thighs and then gave her another long lick with the flat of his tongue. Iris moaned again and squeezed his shoulder with one hand while the other went to his hair. She lifted her knees up and spread her legs wider so Barry had a better angle to work with.

As Barry leaned in again to work Iris with his tongue, he felt Len’s hand slide down the curve of his ass and the tell-tale sound of the cap of bottle of lube being opened again. Len must’ve tossed it to the bed. How he’d missed that sound the first time was a mystery to him. He spread his knees a bit wider as well, and Len didn’t even take the time to tease. He moved in with two fingers and picked up where he’d left off when they were standing.

Barry groaned when Len found his prostate again, which made Iris moan above him from the vibration. She hooked her ankles over Barry’s shoulders to draw him closer, so he stopped teasing and thrust his tongue inside her. She moved her other hand to his hair and gave a soft tug so he’d keep going.

Len was amused by the tableau before him, amused and aroused. He drew back more of Barry’s attention when he added a third finger to properly stretch him open. He panted against Iris and squeezed her thighs. He could do multitasking, but he was unused to it in the bedroom. Len chuckled behind him. Barry’d like to see him keep up with someone going at him like this, especially after one orgasm already.

So he turned his attention back to Iris, and used one hand to spread her open, while the other toyed with her clit and he kept thrusting his tongue into her. Iris had closed her eyes and tilted her head back on the pillow. So she was unaware of what was going on with Barry and Len.

Len leaned over Barry’s back and whispered, “You have condoms, Scarlet?”

“Uh… Maybe? We haven’t really been using them lately.”

“Obviously,” Len said dryly.

“Same drawer, maybe under…” He shuddered when Len pulled his fingers back so he could lean over and riffle through the drawer again. 

He made a triumphant little noise and returned to his position pressed up behind Barry. Barry pressed two fingers into Iris to keep her going so he could glance over his shoulder and watch Len tear open the wrapper and roll the condom down onto himself. He grabbed Barry’s hip and lined himself up at Barry’s entrance.

He glanced down and met Barry’s eyes. There was a silent question. Barry chased away the concern with a quick nod. Len pressed in carefully and both moaned as he slid in inch by inch. It was a bit slow going. Barry hadn’t been kidding, it had been a while.

“God, Barry, you feel…”

Barry turned back to Iris to see she’d cracked an eye open to watch them. She stroked her fingers through Barry’s hair gently. “Mmm… that is so hot… Who knew seeing Captain Cold fuck the Flash could be so sexy?”

Len laughed, but it was a bit more breathy than before now that he had himself fully seated in Barry. “You would not believe how many people actually do think that…”

“What does that mean?” Barry asked. He glanced back at Len and then went back to slowly thrusting his fingers in and out of Iris.

“Don’t google yourself, Red.” With that, Len pulled back and then snapped his hips forward, causing Barry to moan again. So he decided to turn his mouth back to the task in front of him. If Iris’s moan was anything to go by, she appreciated it.

Len set up a steady rhythm that Barry matched on Iris, occasionally gasping against her when Len brushed against his prostate or gave a particularly deep thrust. Len leaned down to press his stomach against Barry’s back and Barry could actually feel Len’s soulmark against his skin. Len reached around and pressed his left palm against Barry’s own mark and both of them groaned because they could feel that straight through to Len’s mark.

The feedback was incredible with the new position. Barry could physically feel Len inside him, but he also had the phantom sensation of tight heat around his cock because he was picking up what Len was experiencing. Len pressed down harder on Barry’s mark when he rocked back against him, because he could also feel it from both sides.

Barry squeezed the outside of Iris’s thigh. He thrust his tongue inside her as far as it would go and then vibrated both that and his fingers against her clit. She cried out and arched her back up off the bed. 

“Oh god, Barry!”

Barry smirked and did it again, but this time, he let the vibrations travel down his whole body to where he and Len were joined as well.

Len grunted in surprise. “Fuck, Scarlet!” he cursed sharply. “What was that?”

Iris giggled breathlessly. She tilted her head so she could see Len’s face. “Oh didn’t we mention? Barry can vibrate  _ any _ part of his body.”

“Oh  _ really _ ?” Len said with quite a bit of interest.

Rather than answer (which would involve taking his mouth off Iris), he did it again, and was met with twin moans from the other two.

“Nnnn, Barry…” Iris moaned and tightened her legs around his shoulders and her fingers in his hair.

“You keep doing that kid, and this… ahhhh… god…” Len ground out. He’d lost his rhythm due to Barry’s actions, so Barry picked it back up by thrusting back against him.

Len re-angled his next thrust so he could hit Barry’s prostate just as Barry vibrated again. Barry groaned, caught completely off guard, which was saying something. It felt just like one of their face-offs, trying to one up each other. He grinned over his shoulder at Len, but Iris tugged on his hair so he wouldn’t take his attention off her. She was close. He didn’t let up against Iris, so he didn’t let up against Len either.

“Yes, yes, Barry, just like that…” she chanted with her head thrown back and her eyes squeezed closed.

Just when Barry thought he was going to get Iris to come, Len reached down with his other hand and gave Barry a few hard strokes in time with his thrusts. He let the vibrations take over and heard Iris cry out as she came, followed shortly by Len’s grunt at his release. With the feedback from Len and Len’s hands still on him, Barry followed soon after.

Len rocked against him a few more times before carefully pulling out. He rolled to the side to take care of the condom and grab a tissue to clean off his hand. Iris ran her fingers through Barry’s hair to soothe where she’d been tugging. She shakily unlocked her ankles from around his shoulders and let her legs collapse to the bed. She smiled up at him when he sat back, and he couldn’t help noticing just how beautiful she was, and how lucky he was that she chose him.

So he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. She hummed and placed her hand on his cheek as she licked into his mouth, cleaning out the taste of herself on his lips. Barry bit at her lower lip and then kissed under her chin and down her throat.

“Are you two seriously ready to go again already?” Len asked from off to the side.

“Not  _ quite _ ready to go again…” Barry said slowly.

“Sure about that?” Iris asked. She slid her hand down Barry’s chest. His dick took interest when the back of her hand brushed against him and was already half hard when she started stroking him again. 

Iris smirked, knowing she was right. She sat up more and flipped their positions so Barry was on his back and she was straddling his thighs. She took his cock in both hands and continued stroking him back to full hardness. It look a little longer than the last time, and he was extra sensitive after two orgasms, but clearly his body was ready to go again.

Len huffed out an exasperated laugh and dropped down next to Barry. “Excuse me if I don’t have the stamina of a twenty-something anymore.”

Barry turned his head to grin at him. “Or a metahuman.”

“Yes, especially a metahuman twenty-something.”

“You make it sounds like you’re so much older than us,” Iris said. She kept stroking Barry like she had all the time in the world.

Len propped his head up on his hand and rested his elbows on the bed. He watched her hands on Barry. “I am.” He glanced over at Barry. “She doesn’t know how old I am?”

“It… ah…. hasn’t come up…” Barry said.

“Well, let’s put it this way, Mrs. West-Allen, I wasn’t a virgin by the time my mark appeared.”

Iris looked shocked for a moment, and then thoughtful like she was trying to do the math and determine if there was either a massive age gap or if Len had just been really young his first time.

“Seventeen years.” Barry helped her out.

Iris stopped moving, which Barry would never admit made him whine in frustration. “Barr, you know what that means, right? It means he’s closer in age to  _ Dad _ , than he is to us. Like, three years difference closer.”

Barry groaned and dropped his hand over his face. “Why do you have to put it that way, Iris, and make it seem all creepy?”

“Because there’s nothing creepy about foster siblings getting married,” Len said nonchalantly. 

Both Iris and Barry groaned at that.

“Relax, Scarlet,” Len said. “There are soulmates with wider age gaps than ours.”

Barry pulled his hand back so he could peek over at Len. “Yeah, but they’re not necessarily in a sexual relationship.”

Len raised one elegant eyebrow as he looked down at him. “You didn’t seem to be minding the sexual relationship bit thirty second ago.”

“Well, no… but…”

“Weren’t you just telling me earlier not to let anyone else decide things for you?”

Barry smiled softly as Len brought up the words he’d said just before the make-out session that had resulted in the three of them ending up in bed together.

Len leaned over and kissed him gently. He brought up his hand to stroke along Barry’s jaw and the side of his face. Unlike earlier, there was no heat or urgency to this. Len was worn out from the last round. 

Iris’s hands started to move again, but only to stroke Barry back to hardness enough that she could position herself to sink down onto him. He groaned against Len’s lips and closed his eyes so he could lean his forehead against the other man’s.

“Didn’t mean to take us off topic there,” Iris said as she rocked her hips. She slid her hands up Barry’s stomach as she leaned down over him.

Barry set his hands on Iris’s hips to help her guide the pace. This was familiar, the comfort and heat of Iris above him. He rolled his hips up into her and she smiled down at him.

Barry felt Len’s fingers on his face again, and he turned his head sideways again. Len brought his face close and kissed him softly. It was a simple and slow kiss, but with Iris moving above him, he moaned through it.

Len slid his other hand down Barry’s chest until he met one of Iris’s where it was resting on his stomach. He took it and carefully guided it over to Barry’s mark. Together with her fingers, they stroked his soulmark. Barry gasped and kissed Len harder.

Len left Iris’s fingers on Barry’s mark and continued to slide his hand down Barry’s stomach and found where he and Iris were joined. Barry moaned against his lips. Len let his fingers stroke each of them as they moved apart and together.

Barry took one of his hands off Iris’s hip so he could cup Len’s cheek and better angle them to kiss. Len pushed himself more up on his elbow so he could actually lean over Barry and deepen the kiss.

Iris moaned when Len flicked her clit with his fingers. “Ah… ah… almost…” she chanted.

Barry kissed along the side of Len’s face and pulled back so he could look into his blue eyes. Len just gazed down at Barry, but he didn’t stop touching them. Len wasn’t interested in getting off again, Barry could tell that. But he did enjoy feeling Barry’s pleasure, being here while Barry and Iris were together. But there was something else, something under the haze of lust and pleasure they’d been sharing. Barry couldn’t quite tell what he was picking up from Len. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t as obvious as lust or pleasure, either. But he was coming close to not really be able to keep going with coherent thoughts at all.

Len leaned down and kissed him once again as Barry rode through his third orgasm of the night. Iris clenched around him as she came too, and braced her hands against his stomach. She stayed where she was for a moment as she caught her breath and then she smiled down at Len and Barry when they broke apart again.

She moved off Barry and crawled up the bed only so far as she could collapse down at Barry’s other side. She burrowed in under his arm and rested her head on his chest.

“Well, I hope you boys enjoyed yourself as much as I did.” She tilted her head to see both their faces.

“I do believe a threesome was a good idea,” Len said. He stroked his fingers through Barry’s sweaty hair one last time and then pushed himself into a sitting position.

Barry frowned. “You’re staying, right? You don’t have to run off…”

“I do have to return to the others,” Len said calmly. 

Barry smiled, pleased that Len was going to take a step more in the “hero” direction. “But you don’t have to do that now, do you?” He held out his hand. “Stay with us.”

Len hesitated. You couldn’t tell by his face, but Barry could feel it. Finally, Len took his hand and settled back down at his side. “We were given thirty-six hours to decide again. So I will have to leave in the morning.” He wrinkled his nose. “After a shower.”

Barry giggled, and that’s how he knew he was tired and already on the way towards falling asleep. “Okay, but don’t sneak away. At least say goodbye before leaving…”

“Of course.” Len leaned over and kissed Barry softly on the forehead. “Good night, Barry.”

“Night…” Iris was already passed out cuddled into his side. So he drifted off with his two most important people on either side of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I promise you a threesome, or what?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the final chapter!

This time, Barry really didn’t see his soulmate for months. He didn’t really realize how much time had passed, but to be fair, a lot had happened to him in those few months. They went to Earth-2, saved Wells’s daughter Jesse and brought her back. They thought they lost Jay, and then it turned out Jay  _ was _ Zoom. He had to face two different versions of past Eobard Thawne, which was a real kick in the teeth. He gave up his speed to save Wally, and launched himself into the Speedforce trying to get it back. It was only Iris’s hand that lead him out again. And when he finally,  _ finally _ thought he had the upper hand on Zoom, Zoom proved he was horribly, foolishly mistaken by killing his father in front of him.

In the end, he did beat Zoom. He watched the Time Wraiths drag him away. And he felt nothing. And then it turned out Zoom’s prisoner, the man in the iron mask, was the Earth-3 Flash, the  _ real _ Jay Garrick, who just happened to be his dad’s doppelganger. That cut through him like a knife. So while everyone else celebrated the victory that night, he slipped out of the house and sat on Joe’s front porch to wallow in his grief.

Iris noticed. Of course she noticed. She came outside only a few moments after him and carefully stepped down onto the step he was sitting on. She placed one hand on her swollen stomach and reached the other towards the hand Barry offered to help her sit down.

She stroked her fingers over her belly as she waited for him to speak. She was due in only a couple short weeks. Barry’s father had finally decided to stay in Central City, to be here for the birth of his grandchild. And then Zoom had snatched him right out of their lives.

“I can’t stop thinking about my dad’s doppelganger,” he admitted. “Seeing him, knowing he’s out there, that should have made it easier. It doesn’t. It just made me miss him even more.”

“I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been.” Iris said sympathetically.

“We just won. We just beat Zoom,” Barry said incredulously. “Why does it feel like I just lost?”

Iris looked at him for a moment. Her expression was so sad, for him. “Because you’ve lost a lot in your life, Barry. More than most.” She leaned forward and gently took his hand. “But… this will give you something for a change.” She settled his palm against her stomach. “Our baby. Who is going to have the most wonderful, loving father.”

Barry smiled, but he still felt tears in his eyes. He smoothed his hand against Iris’s stomach and felt a small thump. For some reason, the baby kicked in response to Barry way more than to anyone else. Cisco thought it was their shared connection to the Speedforce, thus proof the baby would inherit Barry’s speed. 

“I wish I could be the kind of father you think I am. But I feel so hollowed out inside.” He slipped his hand off Iris’s stomach and he could tell the kicking stopped. “I feel more broken than I have ever felt in my entire life. If I’m ever going to be worth anything to you two, I need to fix what’s wrong with me.” He lifted his eyes to meet Iris’s gaze, and he saw she also had tears at the corners of her eyes. “I need to find…” He glanced away. 

For the first time in a while, he thought of Len, of his soulmate. He wondered what the other man would make of the mess of Barry’s jumbled emotions. How he would respond. He suddenly understood why shared emotions were so important. If Len were here, he could soothe Barry’s grief with his own, calmer emotions. He would help settle the pain, as Barry had tried to do for Len during the confrontation with his father. His longing for his soulmate in that moment was so intense, he thought he could feel the ache in his mark.

“Barry.” Iris drew his attention back to her face. “Wherever you need to go, whatever you need to do, do it. And when you get back, I’ll be here. I will always be here, waiting for you.” She placed her hands on her stomach. “We’ll be here.”

Barry looked down at Iris’s belly, at the life she was carrying, only a few weeks away from coming into the world. He thought of all the lives he’d lost, of his father, who spent fifteen years in prison for a heinous crime he didn’t commit. And when they received the proof they needed to free him, he only got to live in the outside world for eight months before someone—one of  _ Barry’s _ enemies—took his life. He thought back to his mom, the first casualty in his life. That was also Barry’s fault. That was also the work of one of Barry’s enemies, in an attempt to hurt him, to hurt the Flash. He’d failed her twice, because he was unable to save her when he’d gone back in time last year. Who was next? What other collateral damage would he cause?

Barry looked back at Iris. “Okay,” he said in response to her statement. He’d made up his mind on what he was going to do.

“I love you, Barry,” she said with a soft smile.

He smiled in response, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I love you too.”

She put her hand on the porch rail to help herself up, and Barry quickly moved to his knees to give her a hand up and let her use his shoulder to support her weight. She set her hand on her low back to help her balance and gave Barry a small smile of thanks before she walked back into the house.

Barry rose to his feet so he could look in the window and see his friends and family. Joe got up to help Iris take a seat once more, while Cisco, Caitlin, and Wally shared a laugh about something. There was a peace about the group that came from not having an immediate threat looming over their heads. Barry wished he could feel that too, that he could focus on the win, instead of on everything he’d lost. But like Iris said, he’d lost so much in his life. He wasn’t going to lose anyone else.

“I’m sorry, Iris…” he whispered and lingered for a moment more to watch the group. And then he sped off to S.T.A.R. Labs to get his Flash suit.

He’d made up his mind on what he was going to do. He had this incredible power. What use was it if he couldn’t even save the people he loved? He had the ability to  _ time travel _ , for crying out loud! But he wasn’t just going to go back and save his dad. He was going to do one better. His older self had been wrong when he’d stopped him last year. So this time, he was going to go back and actually save his mom. He could eliminate all that heartbreak. He had the power.

In the back of his mind, there was a twinge of guilt and worry. Iris wasn’t his soulmate. They weren’t destined to find each other no matter the timeline. There was a chance that by saving his mom, he would destroy his relationship with Iris. He could even cause their baby to never exist. But Barry had to take that chance, if it meant he could have his mom back, and everyone Thawne and Zoom had killed.

He raced out of S.T.A.R. Labs, fully prepared to run through the city until he built up enough speed to create a wormhole to the past. But he didn’t make it out of the parking lot. And that was because some kind of ship suddenly appeared in his path and blocked his exit from the facility. In fact, Barry had to veer off course to avoid crashing into the thing.

He skidded to a stop off to the side and stared at the strange craft. It kind of looked like a jet, but with smaller wings, and a large cockpit, capable of holding many people. It was future tech, for sure. And Barry had no idea why it had appeared  _ here _ .

And then a side panel dropped open and Mick Rory stood there. He looked around in confusion, and then he found Barry standing twenty feet away and walked briskly over. Barry could only stare. Mick Rory. Freaking  _ Heatwave _ was walking towards him, from some kind of spaceship (no,  _ time _ ship, his mind supplied).

“Hey, kid,” Rory said when he was close enough. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Need your help.”

Barry looked him over, still too shocked to properly respond. Rory wasn’t wearing the heavy fireman turnout coat Barry had last seen him in. Instead, he had a lighter canvas jacket and jeans. But the heat gun was still strapped to his thigh.

“What?” Barry said at last.

“I need your help,” Rory said again, in the same tone of voice.

Barry finally came back to himself. “With what? Where’s L-Snart?”

Rory rolled his eyes. “No use hiding it, Red. I know you and Lenny are soulmates. That’s why I need your help.”

Barry gaped at him. “How can you possibly know that? Did Len…”

“Nah. He didn’t tell me. ‘S obvious enough. And I know his soulmate’s seventeen years younger. With how obsessed he got about you, and the way you two flirt, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. ‘Specially when I could look up your date of birth and confirm the timing worked.”

“Wait, my date of birth? But you’d need my name for that…”

Rory gave him the most long-suffering look. “Barry Allen, right? Did you forget we went off on a time travel mission? Not much you can hide from the future.”

“I…” Barry swallowed thickly. It didn’t seem Rory planned to do anything malicious with the information. All he’d done was look up Barry’s birthday to confirm he was Len’s soulmate.

“You good now? Let’s get going.” Rory turned back to the time ship.

“Wait!” Barry zipped around him, and stopped between him and the ship. “You didn’t even say what you need my help with.”

Rory looked at him, and then glanced away. A lump settled in Barry’s throat at that expression. “Need your help saving that idiot. You’re the only one fast enough.”

Barry tried to not let his mind go to the worst case scenario right away, but he couldn’t help the fear that gripped him. No. Not another one. “What do you mean?”

Rory took a deep breath and looked at Barry again. “Your asshole of a soulmate decided he was going to make a martyr play, sacrifice himself so the rest of us could get out. He took down the Time Bastards in the explosion too, though.”

Barry’s blood ran cold. “Explosion?” he asked. His voice was so small. Without really thinking about it, he pressed his hand to his left side. There was no pain. Even without looking at it, he knew his mark hadn’t turned black. “No, he can’t be dead!” He took a step closer to Rory. “It’s impossible! I know my mark hasn’t turned black! If he had died, I would have  _ felt _ it!”

Rory looked surprised for a second and then satisfied, as if Barry had just proved him right about something. “Then that’s it. That dumbass Hunter was always fighting against a black mark to save his family. But if your mark hasn’t turned black, that means we can actually go back and save Len.”

“What do I have to do?” Barry said quickly. “How do I save him?”

Rory nodded towards the ship. “We take the jump ship and wait ‘til the rest of the team clears out, then you use that speed of yours to run in and grab Len right  _ after _ the explosion starts. Too early, and I won’t think he’d dead, so I won’t come here to get you to save him. Too late, well…”

He moved around Barry and walked towards this jump ship. He stopped on the walkway and looked back at Barry, who hadn’t moved. “You coming, kid?”

Barry looked back at S.T.A.R. Labs. He had to save Len. He knew he had to save his soulmate. But he could still go with his earlier plan and save his mom instead, reset all of this. But what if Len still ended up in the same situation? Would Barry have the chance to save him twice? Could he give up Iris and  _ Len _ for the chance to save his parents?

Barry turned away from the building and ran up to Rory. “Let’s go save Len.”

Rory nodded and lead the way onto the ship. It was pretty sparse on the inside, two rows of seats along either wall, and one pilot’s chair at the front. It reminded Barry more of a lifeboat than an actual self-sustained vehicle. But then again, Rory had called it a “jump” ship.

He didn’t pause to tell Barry where they were going or what they were doing, he just went straight to the front and dropped down into the pilot’s seat. Barry took a seat quickly when the jump ship lifted off the ground. He only barely got his harness on before they took off into the time stream. It looked different than his last journey.

“Huh,” Barry unintentionally said out loud.

“What?” Rory asked gruffly as he fiddled with the controls.

“Nothing. Time looks different when you’re running through it without a ship, apparently.”

Rory turned and stared at him. He didn’t say anything, and a moment later, he went back to the controls. “So it’s true. Speedsters really can travel through time. Explains why Time Masters hate ‘em so much.”

“Yeah, but this seems a lot easier than what I do.” Barry frowned. “Which basically involves just running really fast, opening a wormhole, and hoping I end up in the right time.”

Rory snorted. “Not  _ that _ much different than this.”

“So where is everyone else,” Barry asked curiously. “Before he left, Len said this Rip Hunter recruited six others as well."

“They went to save Blondie’s sister. Had to lock English in the brig, because he wasn’t going to let either of us go on rescue missions after we actually managed to kill the bastard he’d be after for years.”

Barry blinked. So Vandal Savage was dead. Good on them. “Blondie? Do you mean…” His eyes widened behind his cowl. “Sara and Laurel! But…” He chewed on his bottom lip. “Laurel died. She was stabbed. How can they…”

“Ship’s got advanced technology. They have to let events play out so Queen and his buddies can take down their big bad. But ‘s long as they get her to the Waverider in time, Gideon can patch her up.”

“Gideon?” Barry sat up straighter.

“Ship’s AI.”

“...Right.” He was going to put that aside for later. One problem at a time.

“That’s why we’re in the jump ship. And it’ll make it easier to sneak around our past selves.”

Barry stared over at Rory. Clearly, he’d underestimated him the few times they’d clashed. He’d assumed Rory was just Len’s muscle, not that Len needed anyone to do his dirty work for him. And he knew Len had a soft spot for his long-time friend. But it seemed Rory really wasn’t as much of an idiot as he lead everyone to believe. And Barry had no doubt that he really had been playing it up, just as Len would put on his drawl and his sarcasm to play Captain Cold.

Barry looked back down at his gloved hands where they were hanging between his knees. “Thanks for doing this, Rory. For coming to get me when Len needed help…”

Rory grunted and didn’t turn around. “Can’t let that bastard die. Not like that. And you can call me Mick, kid. Everyone else does.”

Barry quirked his lip. “Mick.” He thought about being on a first-name basis with two of his villains now, and had to cut off the laugh that threatened to spill out.

They dropped out of the time stream and hovered over a concrete complex that looked straight out of some kind of 1984 / Brave New World, dystopian, government-controlled future. Barry got up to move to the front of the ship so he could lean over Rory— _ Mick’s _ chair and take a closer look.

“Where are we?”

Mick let them hover there. “Vanishing Point. End of Time. Home base for the Time Masters.” He pointed out the window at the grey building ahead of them. “That’s the Oculus Wellspring. It’s how the Time Masters have been controlling us and Time. In a minute, the team will show up to blow it up.”

Barry looked down at him. “So that’s the explosion?”

Mick nodded stiffly. “Failsafe in the device means someone has to stay behind with their hand on the trigger.”

Barry swallowed thickly. “And that person was Len?”

“Will be, Mick corrected. “Except you’re going to run in there and grab him before the explosion has a chance to kill him.”

Barry tried not to shudder at the word “kill.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No more. No one else that he cared about was going to die. Not if he could prevent it.

“Okay. How will I know when to do that?”

Mick moved the ship to the side slightly and brought it closer to the ground. Not enough to touch down, but enough that Barry would be able to get off and on. He also flipped a switch labeled “Camouflage.” Just after he did that, a much larger ship landed on the concrete in front of the building. It looked a bit like the Millennium Falcon in size and shape, only narrower, and had a set of rotating rings and discs at its front. 

Several people walked out. Barry instantly recognized Len and Mick. Mick was wearing the exact same clothes as the version sitting next to him. At some point, Len had lost his puffy blue parka, and instead seemed to have a thinner blue winter coat. It probably made fighting and moving easier. Barry always had wondered how he could see anything with that stupid fur-lined hood. (And he hated to admit it in such a tense situation, but Len looked way sexier in this outfit.)

Accompanying them were Professor Stein, though no Jax—weird—Ray in his Atom suit, and there was a woman in white leather who could only be Sara Lance. A man in a long brown coat lead the way. That had to be Rip Hunter. No sooner had they exited the ship than a man in a grey robe stepped out in front of them, along with an army of the most cliche henchmen ever. They quickly surrounded the team.

Mich reached out and grabbed Barry’s arm in warning. Probably because he could tell Barry wanted to go down there and save everyone. “Wait,” Mick said.

“They’re in trouble.”

“Not what we’re here to stop. Help is on the way.”

Barry kep his eyes on Len. Out of anyone in the group, he was probably the most tense. He had never lowered his gun as soon as they were surrounded. And he stood slightly in front of Mick, almost like he was shielding him. Barry was just out of range, so he couldn’t tell what Len was feeling, which was probably a good thing. He wasn’t as good at closing off his emotions as Len. And if Len felt Barry there, it could ruin the whole plan.

When a second jump ship—no, the  _ same _ jump ship, just from an earlier point in its timeline—appeared and saved the team, Barry let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Mick smirked and let go of his arm. “Told you,” he rumbled.

“Okay. So. When do I need to go?”

Mick nodded down to where Jax had rejoined the team and merged with Stein to become Firestorm. They all headed into the building. “Haircut is going to try to disable the thing. Len, Blondie, and the kid are going to come back to hold off the reinforcements.”

“And we just let them?”

“They’ve got it. Like I said, we need the explosion to happen.”

A moment later, the three reappeared just as Mick said they would. Barry watched as they took on wave after wave of faceless henchmen. 

“And then?”

“English is going to come back in a minute.” Mick’s voice was a bit more strained this time. “He’ll have Haircut in his pocket. Sara and Len are going to go back in after me.”

Barry looked down at Mick at that. “Len’s not the one who decided to stay. You are…”

Mick pointedly avoided his gaze. “Doesn’t matter. Bastard didn’t give me much of a choice in the end…” They both looked back out the window when they saw Rip run out alone, and then Len and Sara run back in, much to Rip and Jax’s protests. 

Mick straightened up in his seat. “When Blondie comes back out with me, that’s when you go. But don’t let them see you. Wait for the explosion to start.” He finally turned and looked up at Barry. “Then you grab Len and you run like hell.”

Barry nodded and moved over to the doorway. Without saying anything else, Mick dropped the ramp so Barry could be ready to go the second he saw Sara and the past version of Mick. He was tense and nervous, in a way he hadn’t been since he’d prepared to run back in time a year ago. For some reason, this felt so much more important. This time he was going to succeed. 

It felt like no time had passed at all between Len and Sara entering the building, and Sara coming back out with Mick in a fireman’s carry. She had both the heat and cold guns with her. That was as sure a sign as any that Len hadn’t intended to survive this. He didn’t wait for Mick’s go ahead. He leapt off the ramp and around the others so he could make it to the building’s entrance, with a voice that sounded strangely like the old Harrison Wells whispering in his head,  _ “Run, Barry, run.” _

Barry stayed in the Speedforce as he ran into the Oculus Wellspring. He was just fast enough that neither the Time Masters, nor Len noticed his presence. Of course, the Time Masters were focused on Len and Len had his back to Barry.

What immediately caught his eye, however, wasn’t any of the people in the room, it was the large device Len had his arm stuck in almost up to his shoulder. The light coming off it was a bluish-green. But as soon as it seemed to  _ sense _ Barry’s presence, it turned an angry red. No one else noticed. No one else could see what he could see. This was Time, contained, and it was not happy to see a speedster. Barry wrapped himself in the Speedforce, which protected him like a warm blanket.

However, Time was clearly much more angry at the Time Masters across the room than at the Speedster protected by the Speedforce. It positively throbbed in its prison. Barry had to wonder how no one else could see how much Time strained and longed to be set free. He could see the tentative tendrils wrapping around his soulmate’s arm, urging him to break its cage. It was waiting, counting down as everyone else in the room was, for the moment of the explosion.

“Shut it down!” the Time Master seemingly in charge yelled one last time.

Len looked him dead in the eye and said with bitter satisfaction (which Barry could feel), “There are no strings on me.”

Barry was moving before he even realized it, before he even saw the first bit of fire. He  _ felt _ the explosion long before he saw it, and he immediately tapped into the Speedforce. He ran. He ran faster than he’d ever run in his life, even faster than when he’d gone back in time to try to save his mom, or when he’d run to escape the blast Vandal Savage had created. He ran like everything depended on this. Because if he was too slow, his soulmate, and probably he, himself, would die.

He ran to Len’s side and pulled his arm back out of the Oculus. He could just see the beginnings of the explosion inside the depths of the machine. When he pulled Len’s arm back, he could also see his fingers were badly burned, and the injuries went up his hand and arm. Barry didn’t want to think what Len was going to say when he saw that. He knew how much Len relied on his quick fingers, and would hate being handicapped. But as far as Barry was concerned, it was so much more preferable to losing Len’s life. He carefully tucked that arm in towards Len’s body as he swept one arm under Len’s legs, and the other around his back. While Barry did have an inch on him, Len was, however, broader. It was only the fact that carrying things was a lot easier in the Speedforce, otherwise, Barry would never have been able to carry him.

He turned and moved away from the Oculus as the flames and Time alike licked their way out of the machine. He didn’t bother to head back down the ramp and instead jumped over the moat of Time that was rising up to meet the explosion of the Oculus. He didn’t spare a glance for the Time Masters, though he almost vindictively wanted to see the people responsible for making his soulmate’s life hell burn up.

Barry could feel the heat of the blast at his back as he pumped his legs and ran out of the Wellspring to where the jump ship was waiting with the door open. He focused on nothing but the weight in his arms, and his destination in sight, not for the first time running for his life. As soon as he was up the ramp into the jump ship, he deposited Len in one seat and strapped him in, and jumped into the seat across from him and hooked in a harness.

He immediately dropped out of the Speedforce with such a shock he was surprised he didn’t have whiplash, and yelled “I got him! GO!”

Mick, who had been watching the door and waiting for his return, only blinked once at their appearance, but then he swiveled around and punched one button to close the door, and another button to lift the jump ship into the air. The blast shook the small vessel for a moment before they were safe in the time stream.

Barry sighed in relief and pushed his cowl back off his head so he could breathe. He tore off his gloves and propped his elbows on his knees before dropping his head down between his shoulder blades. He was actually panting from the effort. Running hadn’t made him tired like that in a very long time. But then again, he probably hadn’t pushed himself that hard in a very long time.

The first thing that interrupted the silence was a strangled cry of, “Barry?!” immediately followed by Len unfastening his harness so he could kneel in front of Barry and take his face in his hands. That was about the time that Len realized how badly his left hand was burned, because he hissed in unexpected pain and pulled his left hand back. Barry only got a brief moment of confusion-surprise-worry-concern- _ fear _ -pain-pain-pain before Len slammed down on his emotions and broke contact.

“Careful!” Barry said quickly. “Your hand is injured. Try not to move it.” Barry moved to the edge of his seat to inspect Len’s hand.

“Barry, Barry…” Len mumbled. “What are you doing here? What  _ happened _ ? Why am I even alive?”

“I saved you!” Barry said much more loudly than he intended. “You were going to sacrifice yourself, and I couldn’t let you, so I ran you out of there just after the explosion started. As for how, you can thank Mick. He’s the one who told me.” Barry nodded his head towards the pilot seat.

Mick grunted in acknowledgement and finally turned around so he could look at Len. There was a strange fire in his eyes. He looked angry, furious at Len, but also like he was so fucking relieved Len was alive. “You fucking asshole.”

“Mick…” Len said slowly.

“I was the one who was going to die. And you had to fuckin’  _ knock me out _ again.” Mick wasn’t quite yelling, but his voice was so angry, it sounded deafening. 

“I couldn’t let you do that, Mick. Not after everything.”

“That was my redemption, asshole!”

“And that was how I made up for everything I did  _ to you _ !”

“Hey!” Barry said. Both men turned to look at him. “It doesn’t matter because  _ no one died _ .” Barry hadn’t realized that at some point, they’d all risen to their feet in the tight space, but he didn’t back down. He stood there with his hands clenched at his sides while he glared down the two hardened criminals. Strangely enough, they were the ones to look away first.

“You got Barry…” Len said softly.

Mick grunted again. “Figured if anyone could save you, it’d be your speedster soulmate.”

Len turned surprised eyes on Mick, which just made Mick snort.

“Yeah, it wasn’t too hard to figure out that that soulmate seventeen years younger than you was the Flash, after the way you two acted around each other.”

Len looked at him, and then looked at Barry, and then he finally dropped back down into his seat and covered his face with his uninjured hand. His shoulders shook slightly, and Barry couldn't figure out why, until Len started laughing loudly. A moment later, he felt the laughter bubble through their bond.

Barry grinned and looked at Mick, who just looked less angry. Maybe that was how he showed amusement? Barry dropped back down into the seat on Len’s right side.

When Len was finally finished, he asked, “So what now?”

“We meet back up with the Waverider and Haircut and Sara,” Mick answered, since Barry had no idea. He’d done his part, after all.

“What are they up to?” Len asked.

“Saving Blondie’s sister.”

“From what?” Len quirked an eyebrow.

“Different immortal psychopath.”

Len quirked the other eyebrow, so Barry took over. “Damien Darhk, who also came from the League, killed the Black Canary.”

“Haircut and Sara went to prevent that.”

Len nodded and looked at his left hand, which was slightly cradled against his body. Aside from the initial shock, he hadn’t shown a single sign of pain. It was possible he’d burnt off his nerve endings and couldn’t feel anything, but it was more likely he was in excruciating pain but he wasn’t showing any of it. And he was holding it in tightly so Barry couldn’t feel it.

“I’m sorry…” Barry found himself saying softly. Len’s eyes snapped to him. “I couldn’t grab you until the explosion started, and I ran as fast as I could, but your hand was already injured…”

“Don’t sweat it, Red,” Mick said. “Once we get back to the Waverider, Gideon will fix his hand up good as new.”

“What?” Barry looked at Mick.

“I was just thinking how ironic it is that I burned the opposite hand to the one I froze off. Matching set.”

“You did  _ what _ ?” Barry rounded on Len. “How were you even able to use it again?” Barry looked down at Len’s right hand, but could see no signs of permanent frostbite damage.

“Froze and shattered.”

The expression Barry had on his face must have been funny, because Len chuckled, and Mick let out one big guffaw.

“Gideon is able to replicate and rebuild lost limbs. Apparently the ship took a full-body scan and genetic samples from each of us when we first enlisted,” Len explained.

“So then your hand…” Barry started slowly.

“Should be healed with no problems,” Mick said.

“Just have to deal with it until then,” Len said.

Barry looked between then, and then faced Len again. “Why exactly did you  _ freeze _ your hand off?”

Len looked away, and the pain Barry felt off him this time wasn’t physical. When he looked over at Mick, it was to see he also was avoiding his eyes. Barry sighed and leaned back in his seat, remembering just how tired he was. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

Len turned to look at him again, so he gave him a small smile. Mick went back to the pilot’s seat and started to guide them out of the time stream to rendezvous with the others.

Barry tentatively reached out for Len’s right hand, but stopped with his fingers a few inches over his skin. He looked up to meet Len’s eyes. He wanted to touch, but he knew how much stronger the bond got with skin on skin contact. So if Len didn’t want to open the bond, Barry didn’t want to push. But Len only hesitated a moment, and then he nodded. Barry gently placed his hand over Len’s uninjured one.

The connection lit up like a neon sign. While the pain from his injury was there, it wasn’t the most prevalent thing, which was probably in part because of Len’s extremely high pain tolerance. But even more overwhelming was the mess of other feelings Len had coursing through him as he looked at Barry. There was that longing that always seemed to tinge their interactions, and gratitude, and concern, and annoyance, and some complex ball of  _ something _ that Barry could only identity as—well, as  _ love _ .

Barry smiled and tried to let his emotions open enough so that Len could also feel how much he cared for him as well. But love? He’d never considered his feelings for Len as love before. He’d been in love with Iris nearly his whole life, so he didn’t even think it was possible to love someone else. But perhaps that was what it was. He loved Iris dearly. She was the light of his life, and carrying their child. But he also loved his soulmate. It was different. That was without a doubt. But then, Len and Iris were entirely different people. Iris was his light, and Len was his balance. And together, they made him better.

Something of that must have come through in his emotions because Len’s eyes softened and the smallest smile graced his lips. It wasn’t even his usual smirk. It was an honest smile. So Barry leaned over and pressed his lips to Len’s in one chaste kiss. 

“Oi, come on lovebirds,” Mick said as he walked past them towards the door.

Barry looked around and noticed they seemed to have docked with the Waverider while neither of them were paying attention. Len squeezed his hand quickly and then followed Mick out. The connection didn’t snap like Barry expected, instead it faded slowly. Which meant Len was actually keeping it open. Barry smiled to himself as he trailed after them through the hallways of the Waverider.

He looked around curiously as the other two lead the way to the med bay. Inside, a woman who could only be Sara stood with her arms crossed as she looked down at another women in one of the chairs. It took Barry a moment to recognize Laurel, since she looked so deathly pale. There was a metal cuff attached to her wrist, with a tube that hooked up to the machinery. And a light shown down from the ceiling over her body. She was still in the Star City hospital gown she must have been wearing when Ray and Sara took her.

Sara’s head snapped up when the three entered the room. Her hard expression disappeared immediately when she caught sight of Len, though. She was across the room in so fast, even Barry was surprised. “Leonard!” She almost looked like she was going to hug him, but then she smacked him hard on his uninjured side. “Don’t you ever pull any shit like that again!”

Len chuckled, unfazed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Sara nodded, satisfied, and returned to her sister’s side.

“You saved her,” Barry stated the obvious. “How is she?”

“With the advanced medical technology on the Waverider, she’ll be fine,” Sara said. Everyone in the room ignored how she sounded slightly unsure. “The plan worked perfectly.”

“C’mon, hero,” Mick said. He indicated the other exam chair in the room. Barry grinned widely at the name.

Len settled carefully in the chair and then caught sight of Barry’s face. “Barry…” he said warningly. The machines around them whirred to life. 

“You were willing to  _ sacrifice _ your life to save your team.” Barry still had the grin on his face.

“I didn’t like the idea of being someone’s puppet.”

“You were selfless. I told you. And now I have proof. There is good in you, and you are a hero.”

Mick snorted, and Len shook his head. But Sara smiled as well. A small table appeared on Len’s left side. Len seemed to already be familiar with it, because he set his injured hand on it and pulled up a small, thin plastic arm over the table. It had a laser point at the end. Where the laser pointed, the burns and damaged skin healed. Barry watched in fascination. It was amazing what technology would be able to do one day.

The door slid open with a hiss and in walked Ray. “Oh hey! I saw the jump ship was back.” Ray’s eyes lit up when he caught sight of Barry, Len, and Mick. “Leonard! So it worked. Welcome back.”

Len smirked. “You didn’t really think I would die that easily, did you?”

Barry would have rolled his eyes, because he knew full well that Len hadn’t planned to survive the explosion. But it was too sobering a thought. Instead, he walked around the chair and up to Ray.

“Hey, Barry!” Ray greeted him enthusiastically with a hug. “How’s Central?”

“Better now that there isn’t a crazy speedster terrorizing the city.”

Ray’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “I thought you stopped Wells last year?”

“Different crazy speedster.”

“Got’cha.”

Barry looked around at the others. “So what happens now?”

“Well, since both our rescue missions succeeded, I suppose we can let Rip out of the brig,” Ray said sheepishly.

Len snorted and pushed himself out of the exam chair. He examined his hand for any lingering damage and seemed satisfied with the results. “Leave him there. He deserves it.” While his words sounded serious, Barry could feel there was no heat behind them.

“Hey, now,” Ray said. “It wasn’t  _ exactly _ his fault.”

Len rolled his eyes. “No. He’s just an idiot.

“Yes, but that’s not a crime punishable by imprisonment,” Sara said. She crossed her arms and gave Len a pointed look.

“Fine. Let him out.”

Sara turned back to Laurel and read the read-out of her vitals on a screen over her head. “We’re going to stay here until Laurel is healed, and then we’ll head back to Star City. Apparently we need to let everyone think she’s dead for them to win.”

Barry nodded. “I think that’s what motivates Ollie to kill Darhk.”

Sara frowned. “Then he can keep thinking that for a while. I’m telling my dad first.”

Barry was so not touching the dynamic between Oliver, Laurel, and Sara. Though he didn’t doubt Sara was right in her indignation.

“What about Savage?” Len asked darkly.

“Dead,” Mick said. “Team took ‘im out. Saved the hawks.”

Len tilted his head at Mick and then nodded. “Then we can head back to Central when this whole mess is done.” He moved to the door, which slid open for him, and lead them out of the med bay. Sara stayed behind to watch over Laurel. Len looked over at Barry. “Zoom’s gone?”

Barry nodded stiffly. “He’s dead.”

Len watched him for a moment, and Barry knew he was trying to figure out what had happened based on Barry’s emotions, but he didn’t say anything else. They entered what had to be the brig, because it had a big glass cell in the center. The Englishman with the brown coat glared at them from inside. His eyes widened briefly when he caught sight of Len and Barry.

Ray didn’t waste any time letting him out. “I see you managed to find a way to save Mr. Snart. And apparently enlisted Mr. Allen’s help in doing it.”

“Uh, hi,” Barry said. “I’m—”

“Barry Allen. The Flash. Yes, I know.” Rip moved between them so he could walk quickly up to the bridge of the ship. Barry couldn’t help but be impressed as he looked around. “So are we going to have to fix paradoxes from your tampering with Time?”

“No,” Mick grunted. “Made sure myself. Time’s good. Oculus is still destroyed. Oliver Queen still kills Damien Darhk.”

“Hn.” Rip turned to look at the four of them with his hands planted on his hips. He considered Mick’s words for a moment, and then went over to what had to be the captain’s chair. Barry was a little curious as to why Rip would take Mick at his word like that, but he was sure he could get the full story out of Len later. Right now, he just wanted to go home.

Len glanced at him, and then he looked back up at Rip and crossed his arms. “So,  _ Rip _ ,” he said with the heaviest drawl imaginable. “From what I hear, Savage is dead. Mission accomplished. Next stop, Central City, 2016, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“May,” Barry tacked on. “Mick picked me up on May 24th.”

Len looked at Barry and then pointedly look back at Rip. “You heard the man.”

Rip sighed heavily. “Any more requests?”

“Laurel still needs time to heal,” Ray said. “But then Star City, after that.” He smiled.

Rip looked at the four of them, and then spun his chair around. “Well, Central City, it is, then.”

“Great!” Ray said excitedly. “I’ll go let the others know, and see where Kendra and Carter want to be dropped off.” Barry couldn’t help smiling in amusement as he watched Ray leave.

“Just because the mission’s over…” Rip said slowly as he took a lever and pushed in forward, jolting the ship into movement. The three of them had to grab the seats to hold on. “Doesn’t mean I’m rescinding my offer to travel through time.” He glanced over his shoulder. “There’s still work to be done, especially with the Time Masters gone.”

Barry couldn’t help the panic that clawed up his throat. He’d just saved Len. He’s just lost his dad. He didn’t want to save Len only for him to go off and get killed somewhere else.

“Pass,” Len said much too quickly. 

Mick looked down thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it.” That made Len look over at Mick sharply. “Maybe there’s something to this hero gig.”

That just made Barry laugh until a particularly sharp jolt made him tumble into Len, who tumbled to the floor in his attempt to stop Barry’s fall. Which was of course how the rest of the team found them when they came to take their seats on the bridge. 

 

Rip dropped the Central City lot off with the promise to return in a week for anyone who wanted to join up. Barry could tell Jax and Professor Stein were seriously considering it before they’d gone off their own way. Mick just said he’d see them around, and took off the other direction.

Barry looked at Len and gave him just long enough to get out, “Don’t you dare—” before he scooped him up and raced through the city up to the apartment he and Iris shared. He set Len carefully on his feet, and he only stumbled a bit as he regained his balance.

“Scarlet, that really is a nauseating experience,” Len said dryly.

For some reason, that was what snapped Barry’s resolve. He tore his cowl back from his head and got right up in Len’s face. “What were you thinking?!”

Len looked surprised for a moment, and then his expression settled into a more neutral mask. “I was thinking I couldn’t let my friend die.”

“So it’s okay for you to die instead?” Barry clenched his fists as his sides. “How is that okay?”

“Barry…”

“I wouldn’t have even known why! If Mick hadn’t figured it out and come to get me, I wouldn’t have known! I would have just had…” Barry yanked on the zipper on the front of his suit until he could pull it down to his waist. It was a good thing it was reinforced, because otherwise he would have been liable to break it. He pulled back the edge of his suit so Len could see the mark on his stomach. It was still the slight off-white of a healthy mark. “I would have just felt this burn and go black!”

Len stared at Barry’s mark for a moment, and then his eyes turned cold. Barry could feel the hurt coming off him before he closed down his emotions. “So that’s what this is about? You didn’t want the inconvenience of the  _ discomfort _ of losing your soulmate?”

“Discom…” Barry stared at him in shock. “No! Len! I didn’t want to lose someone else I care about! Someone else I love! I’ve lost too many people. I can’t lose you too… And I wouldn’t have even known why… You would have just been… gone…”

Len looked at him in surprise. For once, he didn’t try to school his emotions again. He carefully let the bond back open, and Barry was flooded by guilt and longing and… joy. Because Barry said he loved him.

“Of course I love you, you idiot,” Barry said in response.

Len swallowed and edged closer. He gently slid his hand inside Barry’s suit so he could place his palm over Barry’s mark. Both of them sighed in pleasure at the contact.

“I… I also…”

Barry smiled lightly. “It’s okay. I know.”

Len let out a long breath of air and rested his forehead against Barry’s. “Good.”

“Did you…” Barry started hesitantly. “Did you even think about me before you made your decision?”

“Of course I did.” Len’s voice sounded tired. “And I was sorry I was going to cause you that kind of pain, both physical from the mark, and otherwise. But I couldn’t let Mick give up his life. And besides, you have Iris…”

Barry raised his hand to cup the back of Len’s neck and turn his head so he could meet his eyes. “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you too.” Barry closed his eyes as he let his forehead drop back against Len’s again. “Please don’t ever do that again.”

He could feel Len smile. “Back at you,  _ Flash _ .”

“I’ll do my best.”

“What’s all this about Len almost getting himself killed?”

Barry glanced over at the bedroom doorway without moving his hand from the back of Len’s head. Iris stood there wearing sweats and a T-shirt, with her arms crossed over her large stomach. He realized it was probably really awkward to suddenly find your husband with his soulmate’s hand up his shirt. He moved back until they’d disentangled their arms, but he didn’t bother to zip the suit back up.

Iris walked into the living room and gave Len a hard look. “Leonard Snart. You better not have almost gotten yourself killed. I know what a soulmate’s death feels like. And I know it’s even worse after you’re bonded.” She reached out and smacked Len lightly on the arm. “How dare you consider putting Barry through that!”

“I didn’t  _ want  _ to put Barry through that,” Len said defensively. 

“You better not!” she said firmly and glared up at him. For all of her five feet, four inches, she still managed to make the other two men shrink a bit. “Now, are we done with the yelling?” she settled her hands back on her stomach.

“Uh… yes…” Barry said. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you…”

Iris shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back.”

That was when Barry finally noticed it was actually light outside. He’d completely forgotten Mick had picked him up when it was dark. “Wait, how long was I gone?”

“About twelve hours.”

“We said the  _ 24 _ th, not the 25th,” Barry grumbled.

Len rolled his eyes. “You will find the Waverider does not tend to be that precise.”

Iris looked at them curiously, and then she moved to Barry’s side. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Barry looked down at her. “I…” He looked back at Len, and then he looked down at Iris again. He reached out and gently took her hand. He gave it a squeeze with a small smile. “I remembered why I’m doing this. Sometimes you can save people.” He smiled at Len, and then dropped his eyes. “And sometimes you can’t.”

He didn’t have to see Len’s face to know he was looking at him with concern. He could feel it. “Scarlet, what happened?”

Barry took a deep breath. “So much. So much has happened since you went off on the Waverider. And I’ll tell you about all of it later. But… Zoom killed my dad.”

Len sucked in a sharp breath. Barry felt the sympathy and grief on his behalf, and anger at the monster who’d hurt Barry. “Barry…” he said softly. “I… I’m so sorry…”

Barry shook his head. “I was going to go back in time.” He glanced at Iris, who looked at him in surprise. “Not just to save my dad, but to save my mom too.”

“Barry…” she said slowly. “You decided last year not to do that.”

“I know, but I thought… if I could just get them both back, everything would be okay. There’d be no Reverse Flash, no Zoom. The city wouldn’t be terrorized by metahumans.” He squeezed Iris’s hand again and looked at Len. “But I’d lose this. When Mick picked me up last night, he didn’t realize what he was stopping me from doing. But his plan to save you made me realize how much I would lose by changing the past.”

Len’s eyes softened when he looked at Barry. He reached out and cupped the side of Barry’s face. The physical contact opened the bond to more emotions, but it also grounded him.

Barry closed his eyes. “And I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t risk losing Iris and the baby, and you… I  _ have _ lost so much.” He blinked his eyes open again. “Which is why I’m going to fight like hell to keep what I have now.”

Len smiled and drew him close so he could kiss him softly. “I’m not going anywhere again.”

Iris tucked herself into Barry’s side. “Does that mean you’ll stick around until the baby is born?”

“And then some.”

“Good. Because we were planning on making you her godfather.”

“Her? Godfather?” He smirked, amused. “What will people think when they see that?”

“Well,” Barry said. “The others have to learn about my soulmate at some point.”

“And don’t you have an alias we can use for all official purposes?” Iris asked.

“Plenty.”

“Then I don’t see the problem!” She smiled up at Barry. “Do you?”

“Nope!”

Len looked between them. “You… really want this? Me in your daughter’s life?”

“Of course we do. You’re my  _ soulmate _ ,” Barry said.

“We said we would include you,” Iris said. “That doesn’t just mean for the hot sex.”

Len chuckled at that. “Good to hear.”

“And you’re okay with this? Really?” Barry asked.

Len met his eyes again, and then he smiled. “Yes, Barry. I’ll stick around. Play godfather to your kid. Maybe teach her how to pick pockets when she’s old enough.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“And join team Flash!” Iris threw in. “You’re practically a hero already.”

Len rolled his eyes. “ _ That _ we will see about.” He smirked at the two of them. “After all, the future is completely open.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought it was going to be just one fix-it? Nope! Triple fix-it for all of last season's finales! Just this once, everybody lives! (...Except for Henry.)
> 
> Seriously, this is way happier than I usually write things. But I kind of just needed it. I am a huge sap, after all.


End file.
